


Under The Skin

by Roostertease_it



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (side shallura), Allura is lance's sister, Highschool AU, M/M, bad boy good boy au, bad boy keith, good boy Lance, possible rating increase
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2018-10-09 01:48:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10401012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roostertease_it/pseuds/Roostertease_it
Summary: Lance is just looking for an easy ride through his senior year without any hiccups or distractions. That was until Keith Kogane came into the picture and made a bump in his road. Before anyone knows him he's already disliked, especially by Lance's Mom. This leaves Lance with one option; avoid him. But what can he do when an assignment makes that option impossible?.





	1. Keith Kogane.

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone i'm back!.  
> After my last fic this is the one you guys choose for me to write next!. i'm super pumped to be back and hopefully I don't loose the momentum.
> 
> if you wanna keep track of me hit me up on my art tumblr : [toffeearts](http://toffeearts.tumblr.com/)  
> or my insta: [Toffeearts](https://www.instagram.com/toffeearts/?hl=en)  
> thank you, hope you enjoy chapter one

**** The Koganes. Jeremy Kogane. Layla Kogane and of course the most infamous Kogane; Keith Kogane. Lance had been hearing their names more and more often over summer break. He was, in fact, hearing about them right now.

“Well what can you expect when your father’s a deadbeat?.” His mother asked rhetorically, addressing his aunt, in return his aunt raised her eyebrows and nodded in agreement. “I mean,  _ really?,  _ all the girls at the club are surprised at this Keith boy’s history, but we all knew Jeremy in highschool and he wasn’t set up for much now was he?.”

“You’re right, Amanda, he was always stuck daydreaming like a fool.” His aunt sighed and leaned on her hand. “And Layla could’ve gone places too, y’know?”

“Oh!, yes she was a doer wasn’t she?, class president and everything, always doing a new project!.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “He really had no chance…. But  _ juvie  _ three times I heard...”

His aunt leaned forward. “I heard it was four!.” they gasped in unison then chuckled condescendingly.

Lance exchanged a glance with his elder sister, Allura, who was sat on a plush chair opposite him. Neither of them wanted to sit here and listen to this but when their aunt came over that meant, unfortunately, family time. He’d been sitting there holding and absentmindedly messing with a glass of water while he listened to them chatter. He loved both his mother and aunt dearly but god they could be so unbearable.His sister made a face at him and he giggled to himself quietly then made one back. She snickered and stuck her tongue out at him. Lance covered his mouth.

“NO!” His mother gasped and Lance and Allura were shocked into attention. “Not Northridge high!?.”

His Aunt nodded, proud to share information. “ _ And, _ I heard he was a senior.”

“Lance.” He looked at his mom. “Keith Kogane will be in your school!, I don’t know how he managed it but don’t you talk to him!”

Lance raised his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good.” She snapped her attention back to her sister. “And  _ I  _ heard-”

“Mom, can me and Lance go upstairs?.” Allura said swiftly.

“Yes honey.” She waved her off, wanting to continue her conversation. 

Lance leapt from his seat and rushed out alongside Allura. They burst into laughter as they exited the room. “That poor Kogane kid, they were really tearing into him weren’t they?.”

“Do mom and aunt Linda do it any other way?.” Lance laughed.

“No, I doubt it.” she said, shaking her head. 

“Thanks for getting us out of there.” Lance said, folding his arms behind his head. “I thought they’d go on forever.”

“They probably will.” They shared a laugh and carried on up the stairs. “I personally can’t wait to see if Keith meets everyone’s expectations. I hope so, that’d be very interesting…”

Lance sniggered. “I doubt he will. no-one ever meets this town's expectations...” He said.

He lived in a small town called Northridge, named simply because it was to the north of a ridge of mountains. It was a town where everyone knew everyone and more importantly everyone knew everyone's business. 

“True… well I’m off to organise somethings for monday.” Allura said, heading to her bedroom. 

“See ya” He called after her and went to his own room. The thing on monday she’d been referring to was the beginning of school. Allura had long since finished high school but was returning this year as a teacher and couldn’t be more excited about it. Lance was happy for her, she’d worked hard at everything she’d ever done and deserved any little happiness she got.

Lance splayed out on his bed and stretched. He pulled up facebook on his phone and messaged his friend Hunk. He’d known him since childhood and he was a dear friend.

**Lance:** Ready for monday????

**Hunk:** senior year,,, end me

**Lance:** nooo

**Hunk:** already ded

**Lance:** rip

**Lance** : me too tbh

**Hunk:** gtg mom need help w dinner

**Lance** : K bye

**Hunk:** byeeee

Lance threw his phone to the side. Strangely his mind went to the Kogane kid. He didn’t even know what he looked like. The only thing he really knew about him was that his mother disliked him. He couldn’t help but feel bad for him, being hated before anyone even knew him. He knew he was likely to avoid him, just because he’d get a talking to from his mother if he did. He wouldn’t be mean to him, or ignore him. Just avoid him. Lance shook his head, he didn’t need to think about it anyway, he’d probably never even  _ see  _ him. Let alone have to  _ talk  _ to him.

And that what he continued to think. That was, until the very next day in his very first class. English with his sister Allura. The class was all a hustle and bustle with kids shouting and talking animatedly about their summers. Lance sat at the back with his head on his hand. He was tired and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the chatter, which was why he’d taken a seat at the back. In this classroom it was a bad thing to sit at the back. There was an old air conditioner that spewed freezing cold air any time it was on. But he was fairly happy to be the only one not surrounded.

He saw the door swing open and his sister walk in, they nodded at each other. And his senior year began. 

His first class was great, he got to see that Allura was in her element. She was enthusiastic and engaging and no-one interested in girls could look away from her (which had his brother defences on full blast.). She had a shine in her eyes as she spoke, and she wrote on the board with confidence. He finished that class with a warm feeling.

“Good job Allura.” He said as he approached her desk, she was putting papers into a folder. She looked up and grinned at him.

“I thought it was quite fun too actually!.” she gasped as if she’d remembered something and said. “I saw Keith Kogane!.”

“Really?.” raising an eyebrow and surprising himself with how interested he was in this piece of information.

“Yes!, he’s in the other english class but he’s being transferred to mine tomorrow. That’s why I was late.” she giggled. “You won’t believe what he did.”

“What?, what did he do?.”

“Mrs Woods was telling him off for his nails,” she pointed at her own, “they’re painted black you see,”  Aluura then put on a face like someone ate a lemon to impersonate Mrs Woods (it was actually very accurate)   “she said ‘no boy should be parading around with that stuff on his nails, makes you look girly’ and  _ then _ Keith said ‘at least I have a basic knowledge of what looks good, your entire beige get-up says you don’t’ and she turned bright red and took off to the staff room. I followed because I couldn’t help myself.”

“Very you move I have to say.” Lance added.

“Shut up, anyway, she told the principal she wouldn't have him in her english class and then I said i’d take him.” Allura put on a deep voice for this one “The principal said; ‘if you’re happy with the Kogane kid then by all means i’m fine with it too.’ then Keith was all ‘can I go now’, you should’ve seen their faces!. He has some charisma.”

“Sounds like trouble to me.” Lance said, remembering his mother's words. “You sure you can deal-” he didn’t even finish the sentence, knowing the look she was giving him meant she   _ knew  _ she could even if she was wrong. “Okay then, it’s your funeral.”

She tapped him lightly on his wrist. “Either way you’ll meet him first class tomorrow. He was sent home for backtalk so you’re won’t see him today.”

“Allura i’m meant to avoid him, remember?. You remember that, right?.I’m  _ sure  _ you were in the same place as me hearing mom speak” Lance crossed his arms. “Mom is definitely against him.”

Allura raised her eyebrows at his remark “Since when have you or I ever cared what mom had to say, hmm?.” 

“Well never,  but-”

“But nothing!.” She said grinning. “I’m sure you will get along perfectly fine!. Now i’ve gotta run, i’m about to teach the sophomores!.” She gave a small wave and went, her thin long white skirt fluttering with her movements.

Lance uncrossed his arms and sighed. He hoped she wasn’t getting herself into any trouble. God help that Kogane kid if he caused her any trouble. Lance clenched his fist. He shook it off and left the room. 

He wasn’t a metre up the hall when someone called out to him. He waved it was someone from the football team, “Sam!, how’ve you been?.” Sam threw his arm around Lance.

“Not bad, not bad my man.” Sam was a person that liked to call everyone ‘my man’ and touch too familiarly. Which would’ve been much better if he didn’t always smell like onions and smile like he was better than you. “How was the captain's summer?” He also hadn’t addressed Lance by his name since him being named the captain last year.

“It was chill, we visited my Dad's family in Cuba so I that’s why I was M.I.A.” Lance said, edging out of Sam’s grip.

“That’s a bummer my man.” Sam said, thankfully closing his arm and blocking the brunt of the smell. “We missed you at so many parties!, you gotta come to the next!. It’s on friday, my house, drinks will be flowing you better be there.” Sam gave him two big slaps on the back to punctuate his statement. “Later.” he said, before running off.

Lance let his shoulders drop and he carried on to his next class, math, which once again Hunk wasn’t in. Hunk was in the accelerated class. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned. He was met with Hunk’s warm smile.  “Hey dude. Excited for math?.” He asked.

“Of course, always, forever… who isn't?.” Lance replied sarcastically.

Hunk chuckled. “Only one year of it left and you never have to do it again.”

“I can’t believe you actually  _ enjoy  _ math, ya freak ya.” Lance mocked lightly wrinkling his nose.

“Well  _ you _ like art and I don't, different people see?.” Hunk said. “And I like home ec and I’ve never even seen you near an oven.”

“You only do that class for the girls.” Lance said, knowing it wasn’t true as he said it.

“Uh, no I don’t.” he looked into the distance and his eyes sparkled. “I do home ec for the action of the bake, the tension in the air before you take out  the souffle!. The precision of the blade as you cut each succulent slice of apple pie!-”

“Hunk.” Lance said plainly.

“Was I fooding out again?, sorry.”

“It’s cool, i just had something to say.” Lance said waving off Hunk’s embarrassment. “Y’know the Kogane kid?.”

“Who doesn’t?.” 

“Yeah, well, he’s gonna be in my english class tomorrow morning.” Lance said, then passed on the story Allura told him.

Hunk shook his head and stared forward. “Ooohhh. He’s gonna be trouble I can feel it in my left knuckle.”

“Your knuckle?.” Lance asked, thinking he couldn't have heard him right.

“Yep. It has magic foreboding powers.” Hunk nodded then wiggled it at Lance. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure Hunk was being serious.

“Right. Yeah okay then. Anyway….” Lance took a second before he could remember about what he’d been talking about. “Yeah, the Keith guy, I’m worried about Allura, like, don’t you think he’ll make trouble for her…?”

Hunk nodded in solemn agreement. “Damn I wish I had that class with you… then we could give him the protective brother look.” 

“By the sound of him he’s not easily put off…”

“Exactly. That’s why  _ I  _ should be there.” Hunk said, flexing his arm muscles at Lance and raising his eyebrow. “Huh, Huh?.”

“Hunk. Not helpful.” Lance carried on, leaving Hunk behind. He quickly caught up. “I better get to class anyway.” he waved to hunk and Hunk saluted him and darted into a nearby classroom. He shook his head. Hunk could be light-hearted at the strangest of moments.

Lance tried not to spend the rest of school and all of his night thinking about some boy he didn’t even know but he couldn’t help it. he ‘d been there all throughout his sister’s school years. He’d seen her stress over homework and cry over finals. He’d seen her spend hours locked in her room to study. He’d even seen her put her life on hold to reach her dream. And he wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it. 

The next day he woke up with a nervous twinge in his stomach. He felt like something was going to happen today, whether it be good or bad, he just knew it would be  _ something.  _ He decided to dress to impress. He perused his wardrobe and picked out some grey-black ripped skinny jeans and a white tank and threw his new green embroidered bomber jacket over the top. He gave himself a look in the mirror. He smirked, licked his thumb and wiped it over his eyebrows. “Luciendo bien” he said to himself, with added finger guns, before turning to leave.

“Lance hurry up!.” He heard the shout come up the stairs. He hurried as told and met his sister at the door. She looked him up and down. “Dressing up are we?.”

“No.” Lance replied, brushing past her. 

“Ooohuuhoooh.  _ Touchy.” _ She called following. As they headed to the school in her car lance felt her eyes on him. She was giving him a sister look, specifically one that said ‘ _ I know you just lied to me. _ ’

“ _ Allura.”  _ Lance whined. “Stop looking at me like that.”

She wiggled her eyebrows. “Like what?.”

Lance glared out the window. “ _ Like what?.”  _ he muttered, mocking her tone.

She laughed at him. She used to get annoyed when he did that but as she grew up she learned that not giving him a reaction meant she’d won. “I know you dressed up today.” She stated, like she already knew it was a fact. 

“I just wanted to wear my new jacket, is that a crime?.”

“Shh, no.” She giggled and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “I think.” She began in teasing tone, at which he rolled his eyes, “that you want to look cooler than a certain someone today..”

“I don’t give even one single shit about Keith Kogane.” He said in a flat tone, the edged on annoyance.

“I didn’t say anything about Keith Kogane.” She said, without looking at her Lance could see the exact cheeky smile on her face.

“That’s what you implied!.” He retorted. Rolling his eyes again and putting his head in his hand. “And I didn’t.”he added grumpily. He had tough. But not for the reason she thought he had. He wanted to feel confident so not matter who this Kogane kid turned out to be he’d be able to match up to him.

“Whatever you say~.” She turned up the radio and hummed along to the tune. By the time they made it to the school it had worked to soften his sour mood.

“And we’re here!.” She said as the engine cut off. Lance got out of the car and looked towards the main school building. “See you in class.” Allura winked and headed towards the staff room. He waved at her turned back.

He met Hunk by his locker. “Were you waiting for me?.” he asked as he opened it, throwing some books into it and taking some out.

“Yup. We have practice tonight and, also, Sam told me to give you this.” Hunk rummaged through his bag and handed Lance a purple card.  _ ‘Sam's house @ 9 this fri - welcome 2 senior year’  _ it read. “He said I had to give it to you, then you’d definitely come.”

Lance’s eyebrows scrunched up as he stared at the card. He sighed and shut his locker a little harder than necessary. “Well, are  _ you  _ going?.”

Hunk bit his lip. “Uhh… yeah, Shay Dawson’s gonna be there.”

Lance grinned at Hunk “Okay then I’m going too. I’ll be the best fricken wingman to ever grace the earth.” he patted hunk’s shoulder. “You have to ask her out this time though, because she’s waiting for you to do it. I know she is.”

“You don’t know that.” Hunk said. “She might not-”

“She likes you. She does!.” The bell rang and Lance gave Hunk a thumbs up. “You and Shay will be a thing!, I'll make sure of it!.” he headed of to class.

He took his seat at the back and took his things out, ready for class. Allura was late again but this time only by a couple minutes. She strode in happily and  she was followed by a boy his age. He had long dark black hair that was nearly a mullet if the front had been shorter. He was staring at the ground like he didn’t care and picking at one of the buttons on the sleeve of his red and black checked shirt. As his eyes darted upwards, Lance saw his was wearing the faintest line of eyeliner beneath his eyes. 

His heart froze as their eyes connected. The boy winked at him. Lance gulped. “Everyone!.” He heard his sister’s voice but it was like he was in a bubble with this boy and only their eye contact kept the thin layer from bursting into a fantastical rainbow of coloured water. “This is Keith Kogane, he’s come to join our class.” He blinked. The bubble burst.  He should’ve known. he looked exactly like you’d think he would. 

“You can sit-,” her eyes scanned the room and fell onto Lance, she smirked. He glared. “Next to Lance!, he’s there at the back in the green jacket!.”

Lance smiled fakely and Keith Shrugged and wandered down to the back of the class. He sat in the chair roughly and leaned back into the chair, sprawling his legs out carelessly in front of him. 

As Lance stared towards the front of the class he noticed Allura was staring at him with a weird excited smile on her face. His eyebrows knitted together. She was up to something… but what?. He found out a moment later when she walked to the top of the class. “So it’s the start of the year and i’m sure you’re all very very excited to be back together so for the first assignment-” She looked directly into Lane’s eyes. “We’re doing a group project!, with the person sitting next to you!.”

Lance’s mouth dropped open before he could stop it. Then he rapidly clamped it shut again and gave Allura an almighty glare. She wasn’t looking anymore. “You’re to choose an idol of yours and do the project on them!. I want a full 10 panel presentation in three weeks!. Okay, go.”

Lance took a deep breath as the chatter started again. He slowly looked over to Keith. “So, you and me huh?.” he tried to keep his smile on but he was beginning to feel worried he’d have to all this project on his own and there was no way he could take Keith to  _ his  _ house to do any of the work. His mom would murder him.

Keith looked Lance up and down. “Are you Lance McClain?.” He asked very straightforwardly.

“Oh.. um yeah?, why?.”

Keith shrugged. “My parents knew yours said your mom is anassholes. Told me to stay away from you. Said you Mcclain's were all stuck up.”

Lance felt rage building up inside of him, he had decided to be nice to him and this was how he repaid him??. “My mom isn’t-”

“Chill I didn’t say it,” Keith said, his hands up in self defence “My parents did.”

Lance stared at Keith, not sure what to think. What was his angle?. “You didn’t have to repeat it….” He replied weakly.

“Whatever…” He said, biting the thumb on his right hand, that’s when Lance noticed his fingernails were covered in chipped black nail polish. 

He raised his eyebrows. Trying to change the subject he said, “So what should we do our project on?.”

“I don’t really care.” He grumbled. 

Lance blew air through his nose. “Are you serious?, you’re gonna make me do all the work?. Really?.”

Keith looked at him, his face neutral. “You don’t have to do any work either. It’s not like it matters.”

“Um actually it does.” Lance informed him, he felt his voice raise slightly and swallowed to keep it down. “My sister teaches this class so I can’t get away with not doing-”

“That’s your sister?.” Keith whistled. “She’s hot.”

Lance balled his fist. “Don’t whistle at my sister.” 

“I wasn’t whistling at her, i was whistling about her.” Keith rolled his eyes. “You’re so worked up dude… chill.”

Lance dug his nails into the desk. “Okay. I’ll chill then.” He turned around and faced into his desk, talking to Keith wasn’t doing him any favours. He pulled out his notepad and began to scribble on it angrily. He’d do his favourite band if he had free reign. He slouched down into his seat. He glared at the paper.

”Lance?” he jumped at his sister’s voice.

“Yeah?.”

As he looked over he saw she was glaring angrily at him. “Why aren’t you including Keith?” she hissed into his ear.

“It’s not my fault, I tried  _ he _ doesn’t want to help me.” Lance whispered to her, trying not to let Keith hear him. “He said we don’t have to do any work if we don’t want to. But since  _ you’re  _ the teacher I have to.”

“First of all even if i wasn’t you’re teacher you’d have to do the work and second of all I don’t care if he doesn’t want to do it,  _ make him. _ ” She was giving him her ‘teacher’ look. He sighed.

“What should I do though?. To make him?.” 

“I don’t know, that’s your problem.” she giggled. “Invite him to our house later, tell him if he doesn’t come I’ll fail him- and you.”

“That’s not fair!.” he said, a little louder than he should’ve. 

“Life ain’t fair kiddo.” She grinned and moved on to the other students. Lance turned to keith.

“You have to help me dude.” he said plainly. “She said if you don’t she’ll fail both of us. And I have a 3.0 to maintain or i’ll be kicked out of football-”

Keith scoffed. “Football?, what are you the quarterback or some shit?.”

“Yes I am, that’s not the point-”

“You are!, this is priceless. Rich boy quarter back” He laughed. “any more tropes you’d like to fill?. Got a blonde blue-eyed girlfriend too?.”

Lance glared at him, he glance at Allura and tried to keep a level head. “No for a matter of fact  _ I don’t.  _ Now back to what I was saying. I need you to pretend to work with me okay?. You don’t have to do shit, just come to my house after school today and stay there until i’m done with our project.” Lance let himself take a breath, somewhat proud of getting through his mini-speech without raising his voice.

Keith shrugged. “You got food there?.”

Lance nodded.

“K then.” he chuckled and Lance hated himself for thinking his laugh was kind of cute. “Rich-boy, quarterback  _ and  _ nerd. Nice.”

Lance stared at him with a dead look. “I could tell you all the tropes you fit into-”

“The difference is,  _ I  _ don’t fucking care.” Keith smirked at him. Lance wanted to punch him. He had a strong feeling he was losing this conversation. He didn’t like to lose.

“That’s part of the trope though, the fact you don’t care is part of your emo-ness. Real edgy.”

Keith shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Okayy then.” Lance said. “Who do you want to do the project on -  and if you say you don’t care i will  _ actually  _ hit you. All you have to do is work with me until class ends.”

“Fine.” Keith said. “Are we doing a history person, or a modern one?”

“Um.” Lance didn’t want to admit he had no idea either. “What about a spor-”

“Oh fuck no, we aren’t doing a sports person i’d kill myself. What about Matt Healy?, from the 1975?.”

“I know who he is.” Lance didn’t want to let Keith have his own way but this was actually a good idea. “Okay… we’ll do him.”

Lance looked up as the bell went. Keith stood up and grabbed his black messenger bag, it was covered in badges and patches. “Meet me at the front door i’ll give you a ride home.”

“My sister drives me home.” Lance replied, not wanting to go anywhere near the type of shitty car he was likely to have.

“How would I know the way to your house if you aren’t there?.” he asked, raising an inquisitive brow.

Lance cleared his throat. “Right, right.. True… yeah um I’ll see you.”

“Cool.” Keith said and he left without another word.

Allura came up to Lance with a smile on her face. “I saw you two talking, it must’ve gone well.”

Lance gave her a look. “It didn’t.” he grumbled “but, because of  _ you  _ he’s coming over tonight  _ and  _ I have to get a ride with him home.”

“Woe is you.” She said, her eyebrows upturning in a faux distressed expression, “What a tragedy, a horror, a-”

“ _ Alright. _ I get it.” Lance said, defeated. “But when this project is over i’m  _ not  _ speaking to him again, okay?.”

She shrugged. “Okay. I better run, the coach asked me to help with something.” She gave lance a quick peck on the cheek. “Bye.”

“Bye.” he said back, histone not matching her bright one.

The look Hunk had on his face when Lance told him Keith was coming to his house later  _ and  _ he was giving Lance a ride home was a sight to be seen. It was as if Lance had just given him the best kind of treasure. 

“I know you told me not to laugh, but can I laugh?.” Hunk asked, already laughing.

“Shut up…. Allura made me.” Lance shook his head. “Will you come over too?, I don’t wanna be alone with him.”

“Can’t dude.” Hunk said, wiping away a laughter tear as he calmed himself down. “I promised my dad I’d help him with the car.”

“Why do you have to be an engineering genius?.” Lance whined. “You really can’t make it not even for a half hour?.”

“Nope.” Hunk said. “We don’t have much time between school and practice anyway.”

“Oh, yeah, forgot.” Lance said. “Still two hours though.”

“Two hours with Keith Kogane, you brave brave man. Call me if he tries to murder, or make you join an emo cult.” Hunk chuckled, then got serious, “ _ Don’t  _ join his emo cult.”

“ _ If  _ he tries to get me to join his emo cult I assure you I’ll say no.”

Hunk sighed in relief. “Good.”

So Lance’s plan of having Hunk there was gone. He was going to have to go it alone. He dreaded the idea the entire day and as the final bell went he felt like he was doing a death march. He did everything slowly, hoping Keith might give up and leave because he took too long. No such luck. He spotted him leaning on a pillar at the front entrance, now wearing a leather jacket and scrolling through his phone. Lance sighed once more and went over.

“Hey.” he said plainly.

“Hi.” Keith replied, not looking over. He put his phone into his pocket and picked up a helmet from the ground. “Here.” he handed it to Lance.

Lance took it and stared at it for a second. “Why do I need this?.

“For safety. My uncle died on a bike so my mom’s crazy about safety. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t even consider using hel-”

“Wait wait wait..” Lance said, putting his hands (and the helmet) up to stop him talking. “Bike, like motor bike?.”

“Yeah, my kawasaki klr650.” he said. “It was one of my uncles but he gave it to me before he died.”

Lance stared at Keith and nodded very slowly. He was going to die. Not because of how dangerous motor bikes were. (not that they didn’t scare the shit out of him). But because of his mother. If she saw him on a bike he’d never live to see daylight again.  “Oh. cool.” he said, as casually as he could. He couldn’t let Keith know he was actually very much scared.

“It’s over here.” Keith said. Lance followed him around the parking lot and over to the edge. It was red and black. A completely unsurprising colour scheme. There was another helmet hanging off the handle bar. It was completely black. Keith took it off and put it on. He threw a leg over the bike. A shiver went up his spine. “Put yours on…. And get on.” Lance gulped. He put the helmet on and stood there. “I’m a good driver I promise… just trust me.”

If Lance was being honest, he really didn’t trust Keith. He doubted he’d be able to think of someone he trusted less. But he couldn’t risk looking uncool in front of  _ Keith.  _ “Yeah. Cool.” He flipped down his visor. And joined him on the bike.

“So.. where am I headed?.”

“T-towards the big bridge, i’m in Riverview. I’ll tell you more when we get closer” Lance said, beginning to feel nervous.

“Um, you should probably hold my jacket or something,  if you want to keep your balance.”

“Yeah. Right. Of course.” he gripped the edges of Keith’s leather jacket.  He heard the jingle of keys and a rev. He let go and held Keith’s waist, trying to stabilise himself. Suddenly they shot off. He tightened his grip and held on for dear life. He was going to die.


	2. Politely impolite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was hella busy the past few weeks with college finishing up and going to my first ever con!!! so that's why this has been delayed. anyway, here we go...

 

Keith was right. He  _ was  _ a good driver, but that didn’t make Lance any less pants-shittingly terrified. He hadn’t slackened his grip on Keith’s waist one bit the entire way to his house. When the arrived at his front gate he told Keith to stop. His heart was going at a rate that no human should. He tried to play it off, “We can’t bring your bike up to my house.” Lance stated as he took off his helmet.

“Why not?.” Keith asked, mirroring Lance’s action.

“My mom.” he replied lamely, but truthfully.

“Your mom?.” Keith repeated with a snort.

“Yeah  _ my mom! _ . She’d murder me, straight up murder me if she knew I’d ridden a bike,  _ especially  _ with  _ you _ driving.” He put the helmet under his arm and tried to think of a place they could put Keith’s bike. He clicked his fingers. “Okay got it!, we’ll wheel your bike up the the front sheds, where they keep the tools and shit, c’mon.”

“Thanks but I can handle her myself.” Keith said as he hopped off. He threw the other helmet to Lance, “carry those and show me the way.”

Lance jabbed in the code for the front gate the moved slowly open and Lance went in and motioned for Keith to follow. He did and Lance carried on, leaving the main road to go down a small path to the left. 

“When people call you rich boy they really mean it huh?.” Keith said, just loud enough so he heard.

“People call me rich boy?.” Lance asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. He’d never heard anyone say that to him before.

“Not to your face, rich boy. But yeah, I’ve heard it a few times. I can see why.” 

Lance saw Keith was looking to the right, where a few hundred metres away was his house. He felt a bit ashamed of it then. It was overly big and he knew it. It was nearly a mansion. He’d never liked the extravagance his mother went to when she’d chosen this house a couple years ago. He wondered what Keith’s house was like. They came upon the shed.

“You can leave it between there.” he gestured towards the gap between the shed and the outside wall. Keith nodded and wheeled his bike over. Lance put the helmets on either handle. They cut across the grass on their way up to the house. Lance was aware, while Keith was staring at it, that the grass was all equal height and the shade of green that you expect grass to be. Evertyting was forcefully perfect. They took the side door in and Lance led him to the kitchen. “I  _ did  _ promise food so let's get something.”

“Cool.” Keith said, leaning against the wall. 

Lance rummaged through the cupboard and brought out some snacks, a couple bags of crisps and chocolate chip cookies. He placed them on the marble island and moved to the fridge. “What d’you wanna drink?, we have coke, sprite fanta-?”

“Coke.”

“A man of simple needs. Good.” He grabbed two cokes and gestured at the food. Keith gathered the pile and followed lance upstairs. He put one can on his bed and the other on his computer desk. “You can sit on my bed while I take of the work.”

“Cool.”

“You’re really a one-word answer kind of guy aren’t you?.”

“Only with people I don’t know…” he took a seat on the bed and opened his can of coke, “or don’t like.” he added.

“Right…” He swung around in his chair and booted up his computer. He clicked onto spotify. “I’ll put on some of the 1975… to, I dunno, get me in the mood. What’s your favourite?.”

“Settle down.” Keith said.

“Oh…” Lance said, scrolling down to it. He clicked “That’s my favourite too. Which album d’you like best?.”

Keith paused for a moment, his hand stopped mid-air with a crisp in it. “I can’t choose. They’re good in different ways…”

“I thought that too!, My sister said I had to choose but how can I!?.” Lance exclaimed. “Like the first album was chill and stuff but the new one is aswell and it’s like the first but, y’know hyped and-” Lance cleared his throat, noticing that Keith wasn’t really paying him attention. He turned to his computer and felt a twinge of embarrassment creep up his back. 

The entire time he was making the project he felt  _ aware _ of Keith, like everything he did was abnormal, though he was just doing things he did everyday he felt like he was doing them wrong. Typing too slow, scrolling too fast, clicking too often. After an hour passed he noticed Keith had headphones in and his feet on Lance's bed. He glared silently at Keith, not liking his attitude, but he still didn’t want to cause any trouble.

He jumped when he heard Keith speak. “Can I go now?.”

Lance looked over and tried to keep a neutral face. “I’m not even halfway done yet.. And Allura hasn’t seen you here.”

Keith shrugged.

Lance gripped his mouse. “You can leave after Allura sees you okay?.” He said through gritted teeth. Lance felt a spike of anger as he saw the smallest of smirks appear on Keith’s face. “What?.” He asked rather forcefully, before he thought about it.

Keith snickered and Lance knew what was about to come wouldn’t be good, “It’s just funny to me, you’re so angry and i’ve done literally nothing… nothing at all.”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. “You’re fucking sitting there with your shoes on my bed, eating my food and listening to music - when I put on what you wanted to listen to-  _ I’m  _ doing all of our project a little respect would be  _ fucking _ nice you absol-” Lance stopped himself. He tapped his mouse on the desk lightly.

“Wow. didn’t think you’d blow up.” Keith said in a tone so completely unaffected and uncaring that it made Lance want to break his mouse with the force in his right hand alone. “But to be fair  _ you  _ said you’d do the project and you never said I couldn't put my feet on the bed eat here or listen to my music…”

Lance stared at him blankly. He was right. He was  _ fucking  _ right. He turned back to his computer, defeated. “Fine, whatever.” Lance grumbled, at this point not even trying to cover up his annoyance. He daren’t even glance at Keith anymore. He knew he’d be  _ fucking  _ smirking.

Lance felt relieved when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. That’d be Allura to check if Lance had kept to her will. He turned as the door open. Shit. “Oh mom!, hello.” He laughed nervously.

“Hi honey!, How was-” That’s when she noticed Keith. “Oh.” Her voice went down three octaves then she brought it right back up again. “This must be Keith Kogane!, you look exactly like your father.” Lance knew very well this wasn’t a compliment, though she had definitely phrased it that way. 

Keith nodded in her direction, his face free of expression.

“Lance, a word?.” She gave him the type of mother eyes that made you instantly fear for your life.

“Sure.” He said, hopping off his chair and following her out. As soon as the door clicked shut her fake smile was gone. 

“What is  _ he  _ doing here?.” She asked, her lips pursed in disgust and her eyes full of anger.

“We have a project together.” Lance said, glancing back at the door.

“That’s no excuse!.” Her arms were crossed now. “ from what I’ve been saying the past few weeks how could you think this was okay?.”

“ _ Mom.”  _ Lance said, peeking back at his door again, “He’ll hear you…”

“I don’t care Lance!. He can hear me all he likes, it won’t change the fact I don't like him.” She tutted at Lance and shook her head sharply. “He’s not to come over again, I’ll be having words with you if he does., understand?.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah… I understand.”

She smiled. He felt sick at the fact she could act this way. “Good.” She placed her hand on Lance’s cheek. “I’m glad you understand, I’d just hate it if I let people like  _ him _ influence you..”

Lance hated the way she addressed keith, like he was gum on her shoe, but nonetheless he smiled back at her. She left then, without doing whatever it was she’d come for. Lance stood outside his door for a bit before he went inside. He felt awkward now. There was no way Keith  _ hadn’t  _ heard what she said. He sighed and took the plunge.

Keith was standing now, his bag on his back. “I’ll head off then. You’re mom seeing me is fine right?.”

“Umm, yeah.” Lance said. The word ‘sorry’ was on the tip of his tongue. He could feel it trying to roll off, but it didn’t.

Keith passed him but hovered at the door. “If you’re wondering, I  _ did  _ hear what your mom said. Just goes to show my parents were right about you guys.” the sound of the door hitting the frame echoed through Lance’s body.  He wanted to defend his mother, he loved her, but once again Keith was right. She was stuck up but that didn’t mean she wasn’t right too. Keith  _ was _ a bad influence. He sat down at his computer and rested his head on his arms. It was a good thing he’d never have to talk to him again. 

Lance only realised he’d fallen asleep when he woke up to a knock on his door. “Yeah?.” He asked sleepily.

Allura came in looking concerned. “Mom told me about Keith being here.” She sat on the edge of Lance’s bed. “She wouldn’t let me get a word in so I couldn’t tell her it was my fault but -”

“Don’t stress. I’ll take the fall. I already took it anyway… or more like Keith did really…”

Allura’s eyes went wide. “What did she do to him?.”

“She just ragged on him outside the door, he heard though. She yelled at me for bringing him here and said never to do it again.” Lance shrugged. “It’s not like I was planning on bringing him here again.”

“He can’t have been  _ that  _ bad.” Allura reasoned.

“He was.” Lance said, then he remembered the motorbike and mulled over the thought of telling her about that. He wasn’t sure whether she’d freak out or not. Fuck it. “You know he doesn’t have a car.” 

“What?.” She pulled her head back and stared at him. “How did you get home then?.”

“He has a motorbike.” He sat back to see her reaction.

Her mouth dropped open. “You did  _ not!”  _ She exclaimed.

Lance grinned. “I did.”

Then her face pulled into a cheeky smile. He was safe. “I’m assuming mom didn’t see or you’d be dead, like in the grave right this second.”

“Nah, we hid his bike down by the sheds and she wasn’t home.”

“I honestly don’t know what to feel right now… I mean i’m kind of proud but that’s dangerous as fuck.” She put a hand to her mouth.

“It was fine…Keith’s a very good driver.” Lance said, then upon seeing the look on Allura’s face instantly regretted saying it.

She laughed. “ _Keith’s a very good diver!!!”_ She mocked “oh my god… I’m never letting that one go Lance.” She shook her head. 

“Alluraaaaaa.” He whined. “Nooooo.”

“Allura yes!.” She hopped up from the bed and patted Lance’s hair. “It’s too late to take it back now anyway… by the way would you like a ride to training later?.”

“Sure…” Lance replied, groggily rising from his chair. He’d forgotten about training and truthfully didn’t want to go after today.

“Be at my car at ten past six then and I’ll drop you over.”  Lance threw her a thumbs up and she left his room.

A few hours later, after a rigorous training session, he sat in Hunk’s car with him a few miles away from the school in the parking lot of the diner his parents owned. A harsh unnatural light poured out from the large diner windows and lit their conversation from behind. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot to ask!, How did the thing with Keith go?.” Hunk was grinning but it disappeared after a few seconds of eye-contact. “That bad huh?.”

Lance sighed, pulling his legs up and holding them to his chest. “He just really didn’t give a shit Hunk. he likes the 1975-”

“That’s your favourite band!.” Hunk said, proud of himself for remembering.

“Yeah, so I was asking him stuff about it and I barely even got an answer. He was rude for no reason… but  _ then  _ my mom came in and saw he was there and she was even worse.”

“Oh no.” Hunk bit his lip, knowing what his mother could be like. “What did she say?.”

“She took me outside of the door and I thought I was in for it but instead she just goes off about Keith like he wasn’t on the other side of the thinnest wall in existence.” Lance picked at a flap of squishy rubber that was hanging from his shoe. “It was just  _ really  _ shitty because I didn’t say anything, even though I wanted to… when I went back in the room he had this look on his face that… I dunno.” Lance said shaking his head…. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

Hunk was nodding very slowly, like he was gauging the situation. Then he shrugged. “I got nothin’.” he patted Lance’s shoulder comfortingly. “You don’t have to feel bad about it though… Keith’s not a kid, he knows  _ you  _ didn’t say those things… and it’s not like it matters anyway, right?. You don’t care what he thinks.”

Lance splayed his legs out again. “You’re right…” Lance said. “I  _ don’t  _ care.”

“That's the spirit, now you can drop it yeah?.”

“Yeah.” Lance said, saying it to himself because he didn’t care what Keith thought. At all. Whatsoever. Not even a little.  _ Maybe  _ a little.

“I gotta drive you home now, my mom wants me in the kitchen soon.” Hunk said, putting the keys into the ignition and bringing the car to life. They were silent all the way to Lance’s, but it was a comfortable silence. 

Lance went to his room as soon as he got home, not feeling much like talking to his mom right then. He threw his training gear onto the ground and changed into his pyjamas. He caught his eye in the mirror. “You  _ don’t  _ care. You don’t.” He snapped off the light and the Lance looking back at him darkened with the room.

He shuffled over to his bed and climbed in, pulling the sheets right up over his shoulders. He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come. His mind, not yet tired enough, began to drift. And it drifted to one place in particular. That place had a name… and that name was Keith Kogane.

Lance buried his head into his hands and swore. He knew what he felt. It was guilt. He should’ve said something to his mom. He shouldn’t have been so harsh on him the other day or blamed him for not making conversation, after all he’d  _ made  _ him come to his house only to berate him.

“Leave it.” he whispered into his pillow, voicing his decision before he thought it. Really it was perfect he’d just… leave it. No more talking to Keith, or thinking about him or feeling guilty about it. No more. Slowly, he moved his hands from his face and smiled gently ,falling asleep. It was simple.

And it could've been simple. If fate hadn’t had other plans for him.


	3. Rumours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the rating to mature because I think it'll get a bit more uhhh, iffy in those terms??. I might add some nsfw scenes in this too so it could go up to explicit. might as well say that now before we get into the thick of it right???.
> 
> [A mini-comic for one of the scenes in this chapter!](http://toffeearts.tumblr.com/post/160243439946/a-scene-from-the-new-chapter-of-my-fanfic-under)

Lance strutted down the school hallway with his mouth pulled into a grin. People with sour faces were bustling about and bumping into him but he was in a great mood today, so he breezed past them without a care. He was headed to the cafeteria after a gym class that had gone well, meaning his team had won the many soccer games they played, but that wasn’t why he was in such a great mood. No, the reason for that was the lack of contact he’d had with one Keith Kogane that day. He’d been worried about what he’d say to him if he had to speak to him but he was a no show in class and that had done wonders for his nerves (and his pores).

He turned into the cafeteria and scanned the sea of faces for Hunk, he was in conversation with some of his team;  A huge boy named Ryland whose size made Hunk look average, despite his brawn he had brains too and was the main tutor among their group, alongside Hunk of course. Beside him was Logan , a person Lance liked to describe as the lovable bro, that mostly meant he had the basic qualities of a bro, the basketball shorts, nikes, gelled hair and occasional confident offensive remark but he counteracted all that with his love of everyone. Finally there was Bryson who rarely spoke but was easily the most skilled player on their team, he had dark hair and piercing blue eyes that were always on a book. 

Lance threw his bag on the red plastic table and slid into the seat beside Hunk. “How’s it going guys?.”

There was a general reply of ‘good’ and they went back to talking about whatever they had been talking about before. Lance was digging through his bag to find his lunch, a ham roll he’d made before leaving that morning. Usually he’d just buy Lunch but Allura was making him do it himself lately, she said it built character. He wasn’t sure how much character could be gained by sandwich making. He felt the flimsy plastic wrapping and pulled it from the bottom of his bag. It was squashed and he made a mental note to put it in a lunchbox next time. He put his bag on the floor, took a bite of his roll and looked up at the group. “What’re you guys talking about?.”

Everyone faced him, apart from Bryson who frowned as he gently turned a page of his book. “The new kid.” Logan informed him “And I  _ mean  _ kid.” It was Lance’s turn to frown then, sure Keith was childish but Lance wouldn’t describe him as a kid.

“Keith?.” He asked, swallowing his bite.

Hunk chuckled, a suggestive twinkle in his eye “Is he all you think about?.”

“Yeah seriously,” Ryland added, “Shut up about him, you complained about him all through practice, we get it,  _ he’s a dick.”  _ That sent a wave of laughter through the group at which Lance shook his head.

“Okay okay, but he  _ is  _ new, to be fair to me.” Lance said. “Who is this other new person?.” Lance asked quickly to change the subject.

“Katie Holt.” Logan said. “She’s like this sixteen year old and she’s moving into our class apparently she’s a genius or some shit.” Logan shrugged.

“She  _ is  _ a genius.” Hunk said “You know her brother graduated from here too, Matt?, I think.”

“Yeah, what about her?.” Lance asked, wondering why this was a topic of more than passing conversation.

Hunk giggled. “She hacked the computer club's website, apparently they wouldn’t let her be a part of the club because of her age, said something like ‘she wouldn’t be able to handle it.’.” Hunk pulled up the website on his phone. It had multiple different gif of various people and characters dabbing. Lance held his chin and nodded slowly, approving. The top of the page read ‘handle  _ this. _ ’

“The overlords must be after her for this? Did she get detention for the rest of her school year? Or even the rest of her life?.” Lance asked.

“Dunno.” Hunk said, sitting back in his chair and laying his phone down on the table.

Ryland leaned forward, “I saw her waiting outside the principal's office earlier, she didn’t look too bothered. She might’ve been proud actually.”

“Whoever she is I like her.” Lance said, the group nodded in agreement, even Bryson supplied one. 

“Hey my dudes!.” Sam said as he approached the bench, Lance groaned inwardly but said an unenthusiastic ‘hello.’

Lance got up from his spot before Sam could begin talking about his party again. He was in too good a mood to let him ruin it. “I gotta go and…. Uhhhh I gotta get shit from my locker before the next class, see ya.” Hunk gave him a knowing, and approving, look.

“Hey wait up.” Logan said. “I’ll come with.” He gathered his things and went to Lance’s side. When they had left the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria Logan gave him a serious look. It was a type of look that set him on edge because not once in his entire friendship with Logan had he seen a look like it.

“What's up?.” He asked, trying to mask his confusion.

Logan peered from side to side. “There’s something I have to tell you…” This only succeeded in making Lance’s uncomfortable feeling into a concerned one. “It has to be in private though, let’s go out the back of the school.” Logan led the way with an out of character purposefulness.

When Logan had made sure they were alone he sighed, crossed his arms and said, “It’s about Keith Kogane.”

“What?.” Out of all the things he had expected to come out of Logan’s mouth Keith’s name wasn’t one of them. “What about him?.”

“You gotta stay away from him.” Logan stated mysteriously, letting his blond fringe hang over his eyes. 

“Yeah, alright, _ why? _ .” Lance asked, getting more confused by the second. 

“Haven’t you heard what people are saying about him?.” Logan asked, his eyebrows raising. “You haven’t heard  _ any  _ of the rumours?.”

“Yeah some but, I don’t like him anyway so why-”

“Oh. okay.” Logan’s arms uncrossed and he slapped Lance on the back. “I thought you might wanna be his friend or something.”

“I was complaining about him all through practice yesterday…” Lance reminded Logan.

“Yeah but… yeah…” Logan bit his lip. “I dunno then. Anyway, If you don’t like him then don’t worry about it.” He turned and was gone in a flash, leaving Lance to stand and wonder what exactly people  _ were  _ saying about Keith Kogane. His mind was taken away from the thought as the bell rang. 

Later that day Lance sat in the library with Hunk by his side and textbooks spread out in front of them. They’d been there for over an hour and Lance was beginning to think the clocks were ticking backwards. He didn’t like to study, that was just a fact. He could never get his brain to co-operate, for him it was like trying to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. He looked up as Hunk tapped his page, obviously having noticed how long Lance had been staring into the distance. Lance pulled the book towards him and held his pen tightly. Okay. He could do this.

Then he started to think about Logan, because he came across the word ‘nitwit’ in his textbook which kind of reminded him of Logan. Then that led to him thinking about their conversation about Keith. What was the deal with him anyway?. He had asked Hunk about the rumours but Hunk swore he didn’t know anything. Bryson had just shrugged when he asked and Ryland had left early for the dentist and he wasn’t asking Sam. So he was left to just…  _ think  _ about it. What had he done that had bothered Logan so much as to ask him to avoid him?. Usually Logan couldn’t care less what anyone did.  From what he’d heard the stuff Keith had done was things like stealing and fighting, which didn’t really scream out that it’d offend Logan…. 

“ _ Dude. _ ” Hunk whisper-shouted, Lance saw he was stifling a laugh.

“ _ What? _ .” Lance whispered back.

Hunk pointed to his textbook. His eyes scanned the page looking for something that could cause Hunk to laugh and then… then he saw it. In a blank spot between the masses of text, he’d subconsciously written ‘Keith.’ 

He slammed the book closed. He heard a ‘shhh!’ from behind him. He gulped. Hunk was dying from laughter in the seat next to him. He was holding his mouth shut with his hand and his shoulders were bouncing. Lance glared and crossed his arms. “Shut up.” he hissed “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Hunk shook his head rapidly from side to side, a tear appearing at the edge of his eye. He stood up, his chair scraping backwards and motioned at his things before running out. Lance’s mouth dropped open. He gathered both his things and Hunks and followed him out.. He found Hunk leaning against a wall, holding his stomach and laughing hard so hard he was coughing. “T-the funniest part wasn’t even-.” He broke his own story with laughter. “It was your f-face when you saw it.”

Lance crossed his arms and pouted. Hunk took a few deep breaths and stood upright. “Come on man!, you fricken doodled his name in you textbook like a god damned seventh grade girl!.” Hunk chuckled through the entire sentence.

“No-one hears of this.” Lance said, his voice perfectly monotone. “ _ Ever.”  _

Hunk patted Lance’s shoulder. “There’s one person that’ll hear of it.” He stated, his smile gone.

“Who?, not Keith!?, you wouldn’t-”

“No.” He said. “The person that’ll hear of it is you.”

Lance glared at him. “Fair.” He grumbled, he shoved Hunk’s things to Hunk’s chest. He turned around. “I’m going home.”

“Don’t be so salty.” Hunk called, catching up to him quickly. “I won’t mention it often- and never in front of other people…. But I can’t this one go dude. Sorry.” Lance could tell by the tone he was very much  _ not  _ sorry. 

Lance shrugged. As long as no-one found out he could deal with Hunk teasing him, it wasn’t as if he’d never done something embarrassing before. Like that time in sixth grade when he gave an anonymous valentine to a girl and he realised he’d written his name on the back. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t called her sugar-boo on the card. Lance cringed.  _ Sugar-boo _ . He was called that for the next year of his life.

“Throw back to sug-” Hunk began, stopping at the look Lance gave him. “Yep. bad idea. You’re too sensitive right now for that.” Hunk giggled.

“Whatever.” Lance said. He was getting irritated. It was more because of the embarrassment than anything else.

“Ooh touchy.” Hunk said. “C’mon I’ll drop you home ya’ salty bag.”

Lance followed Hunk and didn’t lighten up his mood until Hunk began to sing along to Queen with more enthusiasm than a teenage white girl. It was impressive to say the least. He sat there watching Hunk singing along and tapping the steering wheel and there was just no way he couldn’t join in. He tapped along on the dashboard and rocked his head. Hunk shouted in joy when Lance first hit the dashboard

It was over too soon as they pulled up to Lance’s front door. “Later man.” Lance said as he hopped out the car.

“Later.” Hunk said. 

As Lance turned to walk up the front steps he heard the beginning of ‘don’t stop me now’ fade down his driveway, he smiled to himself. He stepped inside. His mom was squinting at her wrist, trying to close a gold bracelet. “Hey mom, need some help?.”

“Yes honey, please.” She stepped towards him, her pale pink dress swished. He got a waft of her perfume, which smelled nice but was a little strong. Not that he’d tell her that. She presented her wrist and handed him the bracelet. “Thanks for this.” She sighed, letting out some stress.

“Where you off to tonight?.” Lance asked fiddling with the delicate clip of the bracelet.

“Oh just some thing Annabeth is throwing… It’s silly really.” She shook her head. Annabeth was her ‘friend’. She was the type of friend every rich woman had. She was the woman who was always slightly better. She was the one all the other women had to impress. Lance didn’t really understand it. He just knew that was the way. “I  _ have  _ to go, your father’s coming too by the way!. He got home from his business trip earlier. Before you ask I didn’t tell you because we weren’t sure. He’s staying at least a month!.”

“That’s good.” Lace said. He let his mother's hand go. The bracelet dangled and sparkled as it fell. “Hopefully he’ll be here for your birthday.”

She smiled widely. “Yes I think he will!.” she squeezed Lance’s cheek. “I’d better get doing. Markos!.” She called.

His dad came through the living room door. He looked as professional as ever. “Ayy it’s my boy. How’s it going mijo?.” he spread his arms open. 

“Papa!.” Lance called, he rushed into his open arms and hugged him tightly.

“Don’t wrinkle his shirt Lance!.” His mom said, pulling him back. She patted his shirt down and his dad raised an understanding eyebrow to him. “Bye Lance!.” She said, pulling his dad by the arm. “Are you driving or will we-”

Her voice faded away and Lance went to his room. He threw his bag to the side and changed into his pyjamas. He sat on his bed and stared at his bag. He pulled out his english book and flipped to the page he’d been doodling on earlier. ‘ _ Keith’  _ How embarrassing. It was in pen too so there wasn’t much he could do about it unless he could get his hands on some typex. He sighed. He was much too lazy for that. He let the book flop closed.

What was his secret anyway?. Why did Logan know about it?. Lance threw himself back onto his bed. He grabbed a pillow and pushed it into his face. “ARRGHHH.” He yelled into the pillow. Keith mother FUCKING Kogane. Why him?. Why did his brain want to know everything about him. About that rumour… and his family or his favourite colour. Wait. WAIT. Lance sat bolt upright. Why the fuck did he want to know his favourite colour!!??. He slapped his cheeks with his hands. No more of that.

For the rest of that week Lance forced himself  _ not  _ to think about Keith. Which went rather well really. All he had to do was think of something else when Keith popped in. He’d found himself thinking about maths  a hell of a lot more than he usually did. When he saw Keith he’d just… not look at him. It  _ did  _ look weird in english when Keith asked him a question and he stared at the spot to the left of his head instead of making eye contact. Yeah, so maybe it  _ didn’t  _ go all that well. But, hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Nevertheless he made it to the evening of Sam’s party without mentioning him to anyone. He was sat there trying not to ask Hunk, again, if he knew anything about the rumour. Hunk was currently gelling his hair. It suited him actually. Lance had been ready for over an hour now. He was wearing denim skinny jeans, a skin tight white t-shirt and a camo jacket. He’d accompanied that with red converse and a piece of black string he’s tied around his wrist because he thought it looked cool. “Hunk, are ya nearly done dude?.”

“Yup.” Hunk replied, squinting at his mirror-self. “Almost there.” He assessed his hair and nodded approvingly. He looked at Lance. He gave Hunk a double thumbs up. “Okay good to go then.”

Lance pulled himself up from his uncomfortable position and the headed out. His mom stopped him at the door.

“Hey mom what you up to?.” He asked before she could question them. 

“I’m just looking up catering people… Annabeth made me swear I’d throw a garden party.” she swiped through her phone. Lance edged towards the door but she looked up from her phone “Where are you two boys off to?.” She asked. Lance gulped, she looked pleasant but he knew she was mad on the inside because he hadn’t told her.

“Just a thing at Sam’s house.” He blurted before Hunk told her the truth. His mom didn’t like for him to go to parties that weren’t based around champagne and canapes.

“Sam Martin or Sam Lewis?.” Her taut smile and casual head tilt told Lance this was an important distinction.

“Sam Lewis.” Lance said. He’d told her the truth, hoping it was the right choice.

“Oh!.” She capped her hands together in front of her chest. “I play badminton with his mother!. Have fun.”

“Thanks mom!.” Lance breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the car. “I was almost caught back there. Thank god she wasn’t in the mood for more questions.”

“Yeah or we’d be stuck at your house watching movies with pizza and not having to talk to Shay Dawson while we sweat so hard we’re practically swimming.” Hunk stared at Lance. “Can we go back inside?.”

Lance’s shoulders dropped. “First of all you’re the only one in this car with a crush on Shay Dawson, and second of all if we  _ don’t  _ go to this party Sam won’t ever let us forget it.”

Hunk sighed. “You’re right.” He started up his engine and took off. They were silent on their journey over. They were both feeling nervous but for different reasons. Hunk because of Shay and Lance because of Keith. Though he’d never admit it. He knew Keith wouldn’t be at the party after all there was no way Sam would invite him. He was just sure he was about to burst and begin asking questions. 

Ten minutes later they pulled up into Sam’s driveway. They gotten there late and the place was filled with cars. They hopped out and went to the door. It was open and people were smoking beside it. He brushed past them and went in. it was full to the brim. There were people sitting on every available surface and people dancing everywhere else. Lance’s eyebrows shot up. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned it was Hunk. He pointed to the side, Shay was leaning against a wall alone. Her bouncy brown hair was loose. Lance smiled. He grabbed Hunk by the wrist and dragged him over. “Hey Shay.” he said adding a wave for good measure. Lance followed suit, although a little more awkwardly.

“Hey guys… didn't think you’d show.” She said, barely audible above the music.

“Wanna come get a drink with me?.” Hunk asked Shay, with a bright smile. She looked up at him with a smile to match his. 

“That’d be good.”

Lance patted their back and went a different direction before their kind hearts invited him along. It was clear they wanted to be alone. They liked each other. Everyone knew that. He leant against a nearby wall and watched the room for a while. He didn’t feel like it today. He couldn’t pt a pin in the reason... He just didn’t want to. He wandered over to the stairs and sat down. He felt a draft of air from the open door. He could still see smoke rising.

“Hey bud.” Logan sat as he sat down next to him. “How’re you?.”

Lance looked at him and decided he would ask Logan about the Keith thing. “Listen, Logan, I was thinking about that thing you told me the other day-”

“What thing?.” Logan asked, a sloppy smile on his face. He was definitely drunk.

“You know that rumour about Keith. What was it?.”

“Oh.” his smile disappeared. “He’s a slut.”

Lance shook his head. “He’s a what?.”

Logan swirled his drink around in the plastic cup he was holding. “Yeah… he had sex with like every guy at his old school. For money.”

There was a gush of wind and Lance looked to the door. There he was. Standing in the doorway. Keith Kogane.


	4. What You Believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well it's been a lil while hasn't it.... sorry (_　_|||)
> 
> [I made a playlist for this fanfic!](https://open.spotify.com/user/roostertease-it/playlist/0PZASFy1NIi8pVAF4eATEk) I'll change it and update it sometimes, I'll also eventually have cover art for it haha

Lance locked eyes with Keith. The dark blue was piercing. They burned Logan’s words into his brain. ‘ _ He had sex with like every guy at his old school. For money _ .’. His stomach flipped. He averted his eyes. His hands wound into each other. They pressed tighter and tighter until his skin was shades of pink and white.

“T-that can’t be true right?.” He asked Logan in a harsh whisper, his gaze darting to Keith and back.  The sex was one thing, but that he had people pay him?. He felt a shocked, he didn’t even think he could imagine something like that.

“Yyyup.” Logan slung his arm around Lance and leaned in close, his breath stank of cheap alcohol, “They say it started with one of the guys on the football team and thennn evvvverybody else.” he chuckled, sloshing some of his drink onto his pants as he moved. Lance looked at the door but Keith had disappeared. “Well… all the  _ dudes  _ anyway. He’s like  _ super  _ gay. Not.. not that there’s…. fucking… uhhh… anything wrong with that.”

Logan leaned his head slowly onto the banister and fell asleep. Lance pried Logan's arm off his shoulder and stood up. He spotted Sam across the room. He rushed over, pushing past some classmates. “Hey Sam!.”

“Heyo!, My man!, what’s up?.” Sam looked delighted that, for once, Lance had initiated their conversation.

“Nothing much, I was just wondering why you invited Keith?. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy you’d hang with...” Lance shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets and trying to keep casual. He looked around the room for Keith, who was nowhere in sight.

Sam wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I know right, he’s a freak. And the things people say about him...” Sam said without grace. “My mom was best friends with his mom so she made me invite him. It’s such eighth grade bullshit but she threatened to cancel my party so here we are.”

Lance nodded. “Right, right. Makes sense.”

“Enough about him. Are you having fun?.”

“Yeah -yup. It’s great. I’m-” Lance pointed to the kitchen. “I’m gonna get a drink. You might wanna check on Logan too, he passed out on the stairs”

“Yeah, sure” Sam waved him off, “wait, what!?-”

Lance went through the crowd. He was beginning to sweat now and he wasn’t sure why. Sure, the room was full, but it wasn’t  _ hot.  _ He felt a prickly nervousness in his gut too. Keith must’ve been about seventeen when he started doing…  _ that _ . He gripped his arm, his fingers sank into the fabric and tightened around his arm. It felt wrong. He wandered through the packed room and felt alone. 

He caught blue eyes from across the room. Keith was leaning against the wall. Lance felt a jolt in his heart and put a hand to his chest. Whatthefuck. He spotted Hunk, “Hunk- d-dyou…” he felt himself blush as he thought about the look Keith had given him. “do you.. forget it.” he said, he couldn’t come up with anything. “I need some fresh air.”

“Want me to come buddy?.” Hunk asked, looking concerned.

“Nah.. no” He shook his head. “Stay with Shay.” Hunk nodded and Lance went for the back door, feeling the sweat on his back. Outside it was dark but not too cold. He sat on a bench and spread his legs out before him. He just wanted to go home now. He kept his eyes on the sky. There were deep purple clouds but through the gaps he could see stars.

He heard the door open and close, he hoped it was just a smoker, maybe even someone he didn't know. That’d be nice.

“Not enjoying the party so much are we?.”

Lance jumped. He recognised that voice. He peeked to the side. His suspicions were confirmed. Keith was sat there beside him. Well his hopes  _ had  _ come true in one way. Keith was smoking. He held the cigarette between his fore and middle fingers. Today his nails were a sleek matte black. His fingers had rings on them too. There were a bunch of thick black ones, the most noticeable one was the big skull on on his right ring finger. Lance cleared his throat. “No. Not too much.”

“Me either.” Keith said, taking a slow drag of the cigarette. Lance’s eyes followed the cigarette down to Keith’s mouth. He felt some strange goings on in his body as he did so. He picked at a thread on his jeans. His eyes moved up Keith’s face, to his eyes. They were outlined in a smudgy black. Keith exhaled deeply. “My mom was friends with Sam’s and I respect my mom… so here I am.”

“I only came because Sam doesn’t let it go if I don’t.” Lance admitted. “He’s a bit over-eager. He’s very annoying. You’d get it if you knew him.”

“Nah I get it… He seems like the type.” Keith offered Lance the end of his cigarette.

Lance shook his head. “No, thanks, I don’t smoke.”

Keith shrugged. “Your lungs are better off… I’m trying to quit anyway...” he smushed the butt into a tin he pulled from his pocket. “Hey.”

Lance waited for a continuation ut when there was none he offered; “Yeah?.”

“Wanna get out of here?.” Keith asked. Lance didn’t reply. His mind was in shock and therefore his mouth didn’t open. “You’re the only person I know here.”

Right.  _ Right.  _ That made sense… didn’t it?. It totally did. “Okay.” He blinked slowly. Had he even  _ meant  _ to say that?, he wasn’t sure but he’d said it now.

“C’mon then.” the bench creaked as Keith got up. He gestured his thumb over his shoulder. “My bike’s ready and waiting.”

Keith headed off and Lance followed, stumbling over his own feet as he stood up. Thankfully Keith wasn’t looking. Maybe he’d ask him if what Logan had said was true. He  _ had  _ to know. There didn’t need to be a why anymore. He just  _ had  _ to. 

They passed Hunk on their way out, but he was otherwise occupied. His eyes were locked onto Shays and his hand was over hers. In Hunk’s world that was probably the equivalent of second date stuff. He pulled his phone out and shot Hunk a quick text.

**Lance:** Went home early see you :).

Lance followed Keith a step behind. No-one knew they left together. Lance only fell into step with him after they turned the corner. “My bike’s just down here.” It was hidden away in an alleyway out of sight. Keith rolled it out. “I only have one helmet, you take it.” he chucked it at Lance who caught it deftly.

“What about you?.” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged. “If we don’t go far it’ll be fine. Besides, I can go slow.” Keith didn’t need to wink, Lance felt it in his tone. He got onto the bike and Lance again realised what a strange scene this was. He shook his head. He was too far down the rabbit hole to question it now. He put the helmet on and joined Keith. He tucked his feet back and Keith rolled them gently onto the road. He zipped up his black leather jacket. He pulled on his fingerless gloves and grasped the handles.

Lance held onto Keith. In a moment the engine had roared to life and they were off. Keith’s hair whipped around like a black shawl in a storm. Lance could see the smile on his face. Their journey lasted longer than he thought it would. ‘Short’ to Lance was five minutes. apparently to Keith ‘short’ was fifteen minutes. He taken them out of the suburbs and away from the light of the town. Trees and grass was all that surrounded them. They came to a stop at a place Lance had never been. The engine cut off.

Lance took his helmet off and got off the bike. He walked towards the edge of the cliff-like place they’d come to. There was a haphazardly constructed railing made from stones and planks of wood. In the distance was the light of the town.  Lance let the helmet dangle at his side. He placed his hand on the railing. “Wooow.” He breathed. It was a quiet admiration of the view before him.

Keith joined him. He sat on the ground and patted the space beside him. Lance crossed his legs as he came down. “This place is awesome.” Lance said.

“I know right?.” Keith said. “It’s my second favourite place to be.”

“What’s your favourite?.” Lance asked, thinking if this wasn’t it, his favourite place must be amazing.

Keith sighed, in a wistful way. “It’s like this place only… better.”

“Oh… right.” He said. Lance pulled some blades of grass from the ground and rolled them between his fingers. He flicked the ball he’d created over the edge of the cliff. “Why did you ask me to come with you?.” Lance asked.

Keith didn’t answer straight away. “Why did you come?.”

Lance paused. Was it because he wanted to know the truth?. Maybe. “I don’t know.” He said, realising that was his only real answer.

“Exactly.” Keith replied. “Why does anyone do anything?. Is there ever really a reason for anything?. I’m not so sure there is.”

They fell into a lull of silence after that. Lance began listening to the sounds that surrounded them. The rustle of the wind making its way through the leaves. Distant low hoots from owls. The gentle buzz of crickets.

“So… any other favourite bands?.” Lance asked, his mind was racing and that seemed like an appropriate question to fill the silence.

“I like the gorillas…. You?.”

“I like all kinds of music but I mostly just find a song I like and put that sucker on repeat for like a week.”

“Seems very… you.”

Lance wasn’t sure what that meant. Or whether that was even a good thing, so he kept silent. He lay down onto his back and looked up at the sky. The purple clouds had begun to part, leaving great expanses of the sky open. Since they were away from the glow of the town the stars seemed, in a way, closer. Absentmindedly, he lifted his hand up to the sky. It was so far away. His hand dropped as he noticed Keith lied down next to him. Lance watched him. He was staring at the sky, the stars were reflected in his eyes. It was like his eyes contained a whole universe. It took Lance’s breath away.  He was entranced by Keith. His sleek black hair curved around his face and along the line of his neck. He was breathing gently, his red plaid shirt pulling against his form.

Caught in the moment, Lance’s mouth fell open and he said; “I had something to ask you…” Immediately his throat felt itchy.

“And what was that?.” Keith asked back, his voice solid.

He sat up, feeling that mabe being upright might help his nerves. It didn’t. “W-well it was a rumour.” He began, feeling awkward. “My friend told me and I asked around but no-one seems to know so I thought-”

“Yeah?.” Keith was smiling. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying Lance’s flustered state. This caused an uprising of red in his cheeks.

He cleared his throat. He broke his eye-contact with Keith. He couldn’t say what he was about to say while looking into his eyes. “My friend said that you… that you….” He coughed. “That you...  _ did it  _  with all the guys at your school. For money.” Lance blurted.

He looked back to Keith. His eyebrows were raised in shock. But was it because it was false?. Or because Lance knew?. Or because he’d said it???.  Lance couldn’t tell which it was. Before he could make a choice, Keith’s look changed.

Keith raised his eyebrow at Lance. “I  _ have _ noticed you looking at me.” he knelt up “Were you interested by the rumours about me and those guys?.” he laughed softly and licked along the length of his lips. “Every  _ confused _ guy wants a go at me… I guess you’re no different?. Are you a top? A bottom?. doesn't matter to me.”

Lance knew his face was glowing red at this point. “I’m not- uh- I’m not-  I didn’t - you….” He was shaking with anxiety, unsure of what to say or do. He was frozen.

Keith laughed then. Loudly and carelessly with an emotion that Lance couldn’t put a name on. It made him uneasy. ““I’m not gonna force you to have sex with me, Lance.” He stood up from his spot and walked back over to his bike. “I think I oughta take you home. I think you’ve had enough excitement for one night.”

Lance stood up. He stumbled over to Keith’s bike, his knees felt weak. The ride had a completely different feeling than before. He had been excited before, he felt like he was on the top of the world. Now he felt tense. He didn’t want to hold onto Keith. He just wanted to be at home. 

They reached his house soon enough. Keith stopped at the gate. Lance got down and pulled the helmet off. He handed it to Keith. “Thanks.”

“N-no problem.” Lance said, feeling lame. He turned to walk up the drive.

“Hey Lance!.” He heard Keith call. He had the helmet on now. “As for your question earlier, I won’t say if it’s true. I’m only gonna’ ask, what do  _ you  _ believe?.” with that he flipped down the visor and was gone before Lance had a second to think of what just happened.

Lance stared down the road. It was empty. devoid of anyone or anything. With a crunch of the gravel beneath his shoes, he went home. 

It wasn’t but half an hour later when he was sat awake in his bed thinking about the question that Keith had left him. ‘ _ What do _ you _ believe _ ’. The words echoed through his mind. What  _ did  _ he believe. He shifted onto his back and stared at his grey ceiling, he missed the stars he saw when he looked skyward before. He didn’t know what he believed.


	5. The Truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah ik ik its been a while,,, I'm sorry!! :'(
> 
> [klance art for last chapter](http://toffeearts.tumblr.com/post/162142403236/under-the-skin-a-playlist-for-my-klance-fic-the)

Monday morning wasn’t good for Lance. He felt like a rain-cloud. Grey and full to the brim. Ready to burst at any moment. He jumped as he felt a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t look too good honey, what’s up?.” his mother asked, her eyebrows taut in concern.

“I’m okay,” Lance replied, pulling his face into a smile that didn’t feel in place. “Just woke up with a headache.” Lying came very easily to him, with a neurotic mother such as his own lying never went amiss.

She cupped his cheek for a moment then patted it. “I’m having my garden party on saturday, can  you can invite some of your friends along?. Amanda’s bringing Nyma so I don’t want her to feel left out, okay thank you.”

Lance hadn’t had the chance to open his mouth once during that conversation and he didn’t intend to now. Of course he didn’t want to go or subject his friends to it either but she’d obviously made a decision. “Got it. See you later.”

“Have fun at school.” His mom called, distracted by a beep from her phone.

At school he stood beside his locker with his shoulders slumped. He hadn’t figured out what he thought about Keith. He knew that he didn’t  _ want  _ to believe it, that was for sure. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Something inside him was saying there must be something more going on.

He sighed deeply as he shut his locker. He had english first. There was no way he could avoid that class, not with Allura teaching it. He slipped into his desk and leant forward onto the palm of his hand. His mood lightened a little when he discovered Keith wasn’t in that day. That led to him wondering  _ why  _  he wasn’t in. He rolled his eyes at himself when he had the thought. He decided quickly that it was probably just a part of him not to show up some days, he certainly seemed like the type. 

When lunch came he stayed silent while the others talked.

“What’s up with you?.” Hunk whispered to him, completely unnoticed by the other guys who were deep in conversation about what coach Shiro had said at training. Apparently they needed to work harder and the general opinion is that they were already doing their best. Lance wasn’t in the mood to care.

Lance looked around at his group of friends. He had a strong feeling they’d mock him if he said his worries aloud. “Can I tell you when we’re alone?.” He said back.

Hunk smiled in a motherly way. “Yeah of course.” He said. “I’ll give you a ride home.”

Lance nodded. That was a good idea.

“So.” Hunk said as he shut the door of his car. “What’s up?.”

Lance told Hunk the entire story, including the fact that he’d left that party with none other than Keith Kogane. He’d never seen Hunk look more surprised when he’d finished speaking.

“That’s…. That’s heavy.” Hunk said, looking at his hands.

“I know right?.” Lance said. He felt better though, after he’d voiced it. “What do you think?. Do you think he did all that?.”

Hunk put a hand on his chin as he thought. “Honestly… I don’t know. He seems capable of it, that’s for sure. I’m not so sure he  _ did  _ do it though… maybe it’s just me but I think there’s something deeper going on here.”

Lance nodded. “I thought so too. I don’t know what though.”

“Let me ask Pidge.” Hunk stated, pulling his phone from his pocket. 

Lance’s eyebrows knitted together. “Who’s Pidge?.”

“He’s a whizz kid.” Hunk said, scrolling through his phone. “He’s like sixteen, I met him on a discord server about coding, he lives near us actually. I have no idea where though. He’s a genius.”

Lance shook his head. “Yeah, but how is that going to help us?.”

“Well he can search the internet like nobody’s business and also he’s local so he might even know Keith.” Hunk stopped and stared at Lance. “What if they’re  _ brothers!?.” _

“Um, Keith doesn’t have any siblings. As far as I know anyway.”

“Aww that would’ve been so cool.” Hunk said, turning back to his phone. “He’s online!.”

Lance watched over Hunk’s shoulder, but couldn’t quite make out what was being typed.

“He knows!.” Hunk yelled. “He knows him!. They went to school together apparently and Pidge was related to someone that was involved...” Hunk continued to read and Lance watched and waited with bated breath. A few minutes later, while Lance bounced his leg and did his best not to interrupt Hunk’s reading, Hunk locked his phone and looked at Lance.

“What is it?.” Lance asked, in that moment more concerned about his friend that the information he had.

Hunk sighed. He didn’t seem happy or excited anymore. “It’s very complicated… there  _ was _ more going on.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Lance, what  _ do _ you believe?.”

“That it’s a lie.” He said. He said it before he even realised it was true. He didn’t believe those rumours. Why he believed that, he couldn’t say. But he was sure.

Hunk smiled gently. “I’m not sure I should be the one to tell you what really happened. It’s a very personal story, Lance. If you want to know the truth I think you gotta talk to Keith.” he started up the car. As they exited the parking lot Hunk’s eyes were level with the road.

Lance opened his mouth to protest but he closed it again. Hunk was definite about things like that. He was being loyal to someone he didn't know and Lance respected that so he kept quiet. He just have to talk so Keith. Easier said than done.

Lance came to school the next day with one single objective; to talk to Keith. It was a deceptively simple task that Lance had spent hours of the previous night labouring over in his mind. He gripped the open door of his locker thoughtlessly and gazed into the distance. He  _ could  _ just go up to him and say his thoughts without preface, but that didn’t seem like a good option, especially when he didn’t actually know Keith that well. 

“Something interesting on that wall?.” a voice laughed.

Lance jumped and whipped around to face keith. “Oh h-hey.” Lance said, his words failing him. “Uh-no I was just thinkin’”

“Right.” Keith started to walk again.

“Uh, hey Keith?.” Lance said, surprised and grateful the words made it past his lips.

“Yeah?.”

“Can I Talk to you?.”He asked.

Keith smirked, “aren’t you doing that right now?.”

Lance shook his head gently. “Yes but..” his mouth felt like cotton. He cleared his throat. “I mean like, seriously…”

Keith frowned. “Oh… yeah that’s fine.” Lance breathed a sigh of relief. “-When would this  _ ‘talk’ _ happen?.”

“As soon as possible.”

Keith tilted his head, “Now then?.”

Lance hesitated. He looked over his shoulder. People were beginning to go to class, bags full to the brim with books and faces full of dread for the oncoming day.

“We don’t  _ have  _ to go now.” Keith said.

Lance faced him, shutting his locker door with purpose. “Let’s go.” He said, deciding that right now talking to Keith was more important than having no absents on his record.

Keith grinned, “Come with me.” 

He set off back down the way he came and despite the situation Lance felt a smile work its way onto his face. He matched Keith’s pace. 

“So we’re just gonna walk out?.” he said, noticing they were headed for the front door.

Keith nodded, “it’s fine, they’ll probably think I’m going out to smoke or something. I look like the type.” He joked.

Lance gripped the strap of his bag. He didn't want to be caught leaving, it’d be bad enough if they called his mom with an absent but if they caught him leaving he could quite possibly be murdered. His eyes darted around at the secretary's sitting in the office by the doors. He held his breath as they walked easily past them. He felt foolish for being scared when the door shut behind them.

Keith patted his shoulder, “See, no need to worry.”

Lance cleared his throat, “Yeah… it was fine. Where should we go?.”

“We can go anywhere.” Keith said. 

Lance felt a sense of freedom in that sentence.They could go anywhere. His anywhere had always been limited to the boundaries of this town, or the little area of cuba where he visited his family. But he felt like with Keith, anywhere really meant anywhere.

“How about that place you took after the party?.” Lance suggested, it seemed appropriate.

“Sure.” Keith said with a shrug. 

It a moment there was a helmet in Lance’s hands and he was on Keith’s motorbike.He was surprised how calm he felt there. Maybe it was the situation, maybe he was just used to it and maybe he trusted Keith?. He wasn’t sure, all he knew was that right then he wasn’t scared as Keith revved up the engine and took off. 

Lance let himself enjoy the scenery. The building's, telephone poles, wire, cars, people and walls flying past his face. Slowly it evolved to trees, bushes and general greenery. The world was devoid of noise apart from the gentle hum of the engine. The sun was fighting it’s way through the leaves, leaving a dappled pattern of warm across his back and the road ahead. Lance felt his stress leave completely.

When they made it to the spot they’d sat together a few nights before neither of the two said a thing. Keith rested his bike against a tree as Lance sat himself down and stared into the distance. It was a complete contrast to the last time he’d seen it but equal in beauty. The starry sky had been replaced with a vibrant blue a huge  The sun beat down onto his shoulders, the light seemed to make the green that surrounded them almost fluorescent. A breeze blew across his nose and as Keith sat next to him he saw his black locks begin to be taken along in it’s flow.

“So.” Keith began, his voice soft as the wind. “What’s this all about.”

“You.” Lance said, the words coming out easier than he had expected. “I want to know the truth. You don’t even have to tel me the  _ whole  _ truth. But i’m very curious even though I… don’t think it's true.”

Keith moved his head slowly up and down, as if considering everything. The he turned to Lance, brushed a piece of his hair behind his ear and spoke, “Okay, I’ll tell you.” he sighed,”But please keep quiet while I do… and you have to keep it to yourself.”

“I promise.” Lance crossed his hands over his legs and kept his eyes on Keith, giving him his full undivided attention.

“God… where to I begin..” he took a deep breath before saying; “last year while I was working for a grocery store I met this guy called Eli Holt. I knew him  before then, we went to the same high school and he was the quarterback so of course everyone knew him... I didn't even speak to him properly until the second week of work… he was so goddamn charming. His eyes were soft and ugh Lance, I liked him from the first sentence he spoke.” Keith pulled his legs up and leaned forward onto them. 

“I never thought it’d move past me liking him though, i’ve never had any luck there. Anyway… one day when we were stocking up the back room we were talking and he just.. Kissed me.” Keith put his hand on his face and just sighed and Lance knew what was about to come was bad and it broke his heart., “I should’ve known it wouldn’t end well when he made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I was too excited about it to see past my own fucking nose.”He stopped there for a moment, staring out into the distance.

Lance watched him. His chin was resting on his hands and he was squeezing his them together tightly.

“... he said he was my boyfriend, but he didn’t act like it. He was nice to me when we were alone, super nice, but whenever people were around he pretended not to know me. I ignored that though… I didn't want to ruin everything. There was nothing really to ruin in the end. I was so fucking  _ stupid. _ ” Keith buried his head into his arms, his voice became muffled. “He liked to have sex a lot... Not that I didn’t…” Keith shook his head. “But he wanted to do it everywhere and he was great at convincing me it was a good idea… so this one day, after a game when we thought everyone was gone we… anyway… we were caught by someone on his team. It’s safe to say it ended pretty much in that moment. I tried to talk to him but he pushed me away and then I heard the rumours. He started telling everyone that I seduced him, I was a  super cheap way to ‘get-off’ and it was great because I had tons of experience…. I don’t know how he convinced everyone it was all me… well… that’s it.” Keith said, splaying his legs out in front of him and looked at Lance. “The truth.”

Tentatively Lance put his hand out and touched Keith’s cheek, using his thumb to wipe away a tear that hand escaped. He wanted to say he was sorry but that wouldn't help. He knew there was nothing he could’ve done for Keith, he didn’t even know him then but in those situations you can’t feel anything but guilt. “You can cry, if you want to.” Lance said.

Keith shook his head and smiled, “I’ve cried enough over that asswipe, he’s not getting any more of my attention.” 

Lance removed his lingering hand and let it rest on his lap. “I’m sorry I pushed you to tell me..”

“Nah… I think I needed to talk about it. I guess fate decided the person I’d tell the proper story to was you.”

“Thank you.”

Keith chuckled, Lance felt his heart skip at the shape of his mouth and the twinkle in his eye. “For what?.”

“Trusting me, I guess.” he replied, scratching his head. He didn't know how to explain it exactly, he just felt privileged to be someone Keith trusted. He knew he didn't allow many into his inner circle.

Keith chuckled again, “No problem.”

A breeze rushed past, rustling the leaves in the nearby trees and giving their forms a rest from the glare of the sun.

“We should hangout sometime.” Lance said, facing out to the distance. He was a little afraid of what Keith’s reaction would be.

“You asking me out, loverboy?.” Keith asked, smirking.

“Maybe.” Lance said, trying his best to be suave to cover up how fast his heart was beating.

“Any ideas where this ‘maybe’ happen?.” Keith blinked slowly, somehow making their eye-contact more intense.

Lance’s mind raced. “Garden party.” he blurted,he cleared his throat. “My mom wanted me to invite some of my friends to her garden party… so yeah.”  Suffice to say he immediately regretted that decision. He didn’t think there was a worse place to invite someone than a garden party your  _ mom _ was throwing.

“Sure.”

Lance’s head snapped to the side, “sure!?.”

Keith nodded. “As long as your mother doesn’t mind.” he laughed, “I know she doesn’t like me.”

He hadn't thought of that… “it’ll be fine… she’ll be busy with everyone else.”

“It’s a plan then.”

Lance shivered. Keith could’ve replaced ‘plan’ and ‘date’ and the tone would’ve been exactly the same. 

When he arrived home that night he stared out the window and was amazed how quickly your perspective on somebody could change. He caught himself smiling. He was once again in thought, but now instead of a rain cloud he felt like sunlight. light, airy and in a strange way, free.


	6. Garden Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I'm taking so long to update!!. but no matter how long I take to update I promise you I will finish this story! Also every comment I get on this story gives me motivation to continue so thank you so much!!!!.

Lance was laying on his bed with his legs upright against the wall. He was in one of those moods, where all he needed to do was put his legs up in the air. No reason, it just felt right.  Hunk was sat at the end of the bed. Lance was waiting for Hunk to ask the question he knew he would. “So, what happened the other day?.” Hunk asked as if it were being read from the script in Lance’s mind.

Lance had been keeping Hunk on tenterhooks over the past few days. He was embarrassed about out it, more than he would admit. “So, you know I skipped right?-.” he began.

“How could I not, I was nervous all damn day and  _ then  _ you wouldn’t even explain  _ why-” _

“Hunk, stay with me.” Hunk stopped speaking. Lance rolled and sat up. “I skipped with Keith.” Hunk’s eyes widened and Lance rushed to speak before he was interrupted again. “He told me about everything.”

Hunk smiled. Hunk already knew the truth so there was no need to explain or dance over the subject. “How open was he?.”

“Pretty open… he told me everything.” Lance said, he tried to say it casually but it did make him feel a little special. Just a little. 

“Damn… i’m glad it’s pver now.” Hunk said, “you were really getting worked up about it.”

“I was no-!” Lance started before he let out a sigh. “You’re right.”

Lance’s bedroom door flew open and his mother’s face came through, “Oh Hunk dear, you’re here. Lance, do you want to help greets guests later?.” she paused and Lance opened his mouth, but didn’t get a chance to speak. “What am am I saying,of course you don’t. My head’s a mess right now.”

She rushed out in a flurry. Lance and Hunk shared a look. They both knew how she was. “Did you ask any of the other guys to this thing today?.”

“I’ve been meaning it mention it to you… I invited the other guys but I also invited Keith…”

Hunk’s  face brightened with a smile that spread from ear to ear. “You invited him here?.”

“Yeah, I said that we should hang out sometime and it kind of just happened…why are you looking at me like that? .” Hunk was looking at him like he knew something about Lance that Lance didn’t.

Hunk shook his head and shrugged, “oh, it’s nothing only you have a crush on Keith and it’s really obvious.”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. _did he?._ No, no. of course not. He only saw Keith as a potential friend. Though, he did have a cute face and he was super cool and.... _shit… maybe_ he had a crush _._ “Hunk shut up… No I don’t…” he shook his head. _he didn’t._ “I just thought we could be friends, that’s all…”

Hunk shrugged, “Believe whatever makes you happy bud.” he said, a disbelieving look all over his face.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?.” Hunk asked with a shit-eating grin.

“Like you think I’m lying.”

Hunk held his hands up “I didn’t say anything!.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Lance heard his doorbell ring and soon after he heard his mom call his name. He went downstairs and saw his mom speaking to Ryland, Logan and Bryson. “Mom leave them alone, come on guys, up to my room.”

“I wasn’t bothering you, was I?.” she asked, like it was possible to contradict her.

“No ma’am.” Ryland said, heading towards Lance nonetheless. Logan followed, shaking his head. Bryson just followed. Lance was going to have to tell them about Keith...

“YOU INVITED KEITH!?.” That was the first thing Logan said, or shouted, when Lance told them. He had sat them down and told them not to overreact. So of course overreact was what Logan did. “Why would you do that!?, I warned you about him…” Logan folded his arms, taking clear offence to this news. He then muttered something about ‘the bro code’.

“The stuff you said to me wasn’t true.” Lance said, firmly.

“Yeah, It wasn’t” Hunk added.

“I don’t see a problem then.” Ryland said, looking at Logan. “Honestly, I didn’t see a problem before.” Bryson gave a small nod in agreement.

Logan looked to them all and found no ally in his cause. “Whatever. I don’t care what you guys think, I still don’t like him.”

“Oh cheer up, Nyma’s coming.” Lance said.

Logan’s face instantly changed. “She is!?.” everyone burst into laughter and Logan looked around confusedly, “What?, what!?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Lance said. “Anyway, now that you’re over that, we should get a table outside before my mom’s friends take all the good ones.”

The garden was decorated fabulously. There was a white marquee tent towards the back of the garden, fairy lights were strung up everywhere and gave the garden a soft light. The tables and chairs were at the edge of the garden, leaving space for people to dance.  Gorgeous smells filled the air, sausages, burgers, all of which were finger food sized. Lance sat at the table most out of the way and his friends joined him.

“When will Nyma get here?.” Logan asked, without skipping a beat.

“I’m gonna have to shut you down right now Logan, I have no idea and if you ask me again I’m throwing you out.” Logan mimed zipping his mouth closed and he didn’t ask again.

It wasn’t long before the chairs were being filled and the small talk was flowing. Logan nearly burst out of his skin when Nyma showed up. Lance had known her since he was a child, they weren’t best friends but they did like each other. He waved at her and she walked over. She had an air that made it seem like she had everything in control, it most likely had something to do with her confidence level - which was of the charts. Lance noticed Logan slowly look her up and down. She was wearing skinny jeans and a respectable loose white top, one her mother had probably forced her into. Her lips were a deep shade of red and she had sleek black eyeliner. To top it off her long blonde hair hung loose.

“Hey Lance.” She said with a slight smile, “can I use your bathroom?.” She asked.

“Yeah sure.”

She widened her eyes then looked towards the house, “Isn’t it  _ locked?.”  _

“Oh, right… yeah.” Lance stood up and led her inside.

“Okay so,” She said, stopping him as soon as they were out of eyesight or earshot of anybody. “do you not have any female friends or do you expect me to let these football dudes drool all over me for the night?.”

“How do you know-”

“I’ll stop you there, the blondish one was eyeing me up as soon as I walked over.” She pursed her lips, she wasn’t taking any of Lance’s crap. He let out a small laugh.

“That’s just Logan. He’s an idiot but he’s alright. The others are a different story, I can almost guarantee that Bryson won’t say a word to you and Ryland is chill and you know Hunk.”

She squinted, thinking on what Lance had just said. “Okay, Okay, I can deal.”

Lance nodded, satisfied with that outcome, “Can we go back out or do you actually need the bathroom?.”

She hit him, “Shut up.” Lance snickered, they headed back out. She sat between Lance and Hunk and was immediately a part of the group. It would be more accurate to say she became the centre of their group. Not because of her looks or the fact she was a girl but because she was great at telling stories, and damn did she have some stories to tell.

Half an hour later Lance began to wonder where keith was. He started to check his phone every five minutes and look up at the entrance. He pretended to listen to Nyma’s stories as he tapped his fingers on the table. He jumped when his phone buzzed, there was a text, but it was from Hunk.

**Hunk:** just text him

Lance looked over at Hunk. He winked.

**Hunk:** TEXT HIM

**Lance:** oKOKOK

Hunk shot Lance a thumbs up. Suddenly Lance was nervous.

**Lance:** Hey, just wondering when you’ll be here :)

It took him about five minutes before he could bring himself to send it. But he did. He let out a sigh of relief and placed his phone back on the desk. It buzzed a moment later.

**Keith:** just at your gate now

Without thinking Lance stood up. “Uhh-uh i’ll be right back.” He rushed around the side of the house and hurried down the path, his heart was in his throat and yet he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. 

He spotted Keith as soon as he’d turned the corner. Today he was wearing a leather jacket and his patented skinny jeans but Lance noticed, as they got closer, no smudgy eyeliner. He fell into step with Keith, “Hey, glad you could make it.”

“Yeah sorry I’m later than I thought I’d be… I took my bike to my friends house and walked over, I thought you might get in trouble if your mom saw it.” He said with a laugh.

Lance scratched his head “I’d deny it but it’s true.”

“What’s this garden thing for anyway?”

“Nothing.” He replied, “it’s just because my mom’s friend wanted her to do it and I guess my mom wanted to outdo whatever party her friend threw last time… it’s bullshit really.”

Keith nodded slowly, “No shit…”

Keith stopped when they turned the corner. He was staring at everything going on in the garden. The lights, the food, the people. “All this, for nothing?.” He had said it under his breath and Lance didn’t think he was even meant to hear it. But nevertheless it made him realise how over the top and stupid the entire thing was. It was all just to outdo a woman his mom didn’t even like…

For a second he caught his mom's glare from across the room, “This way,” he said, ignoring his mom. He led Keith to the table and before he got a word out Nyma jumped up from the table and wrapped her arms around Keith.

“Lance you didn’t tell me Keith was coming!!.” she exclaimed, her smile spreading from ear to ear.

“Didn’t know you knew him.” He muttered. He felt a prickly feeling of jealousy climb up his back. He fought it back and said through slightly clenched jaws; “How  _ do  _ you know him?.”

“Mutual friend.” With that she sat down, making sure to have Keith sat right next to her. The problem with that was she had Lance at her other side. He heard Nyma introduce everyone to Keith. He hated himself for the spite he felt as she did that. Keith seemed to be having fun though and that was all he could ask for. He swallowed his jealousy and joined the conversation.

It was going remarkably well. All of them seemed to like Keith especially with Nyma there to convince them. By the time Keith had gotten there she had everyone wrapped around her little finger. She had a way of talking that drew people in, you never had to say a word and you felt like you were part of the group. Despite everything, Lance was swept along too. 

Eventually, she started to talk about Keith. That, he didn’t like.

“Remember that time we spent the night at my cousin's house?, Keith was so cool there he brought his bike and all the girls went crazy… too bad for them.” She shook her head, Lance guessed in a form of pity for the girls that lusted after Keith. “There was this one time we were at Rolo’s house, remember Eli was there? anyway we were bored so we decided to-”

“There’s no need to tell them that story.” Keith said firmly, he wasn’t joking and everyone at the table knew it. That one sentence had cracked the atmosphere that Nyma had created. Lance could tell everyone at that table was now, once again, wary of Keith. 

Nyma stopped her telling of the story wasn’t put off by Keith, instead she went on, “Yeah that was a boring one anyway-”

The tension was quickly resolved as Hunk, Logan, Ryland and Bryson were pulled back into Nyma’s web of stories, it happened faster than you could say ‘enticing’. Lance was no longer drawn in by Nyma’s words, instead he was watching Keith. His fist were balled up and his face was pinched. It looked like he was angry but trying desperately not to show it. Lance felt an immediate distaste for Nyma. 

Lance stood up, he leaned over to Keith “Wanna walk with me?.” Keith nodded. Lance could see the relief in his eyes. It filled him with joy he couldn’t contain and hid a smile while wiping his mouth. Lance led keith around to the front of the garden. It didn’t take a detective to notice the housewives starring Keith down. In particular he saw his mom try and catch his own eye’s but he quickly looked away. Whether or not Keith noticed, he didn’t seem to care all that much.

As they turned the corner keith pulled a cigarette from his jacket’s inside pocket and roughly lit it. “Y’know , I love Nyma but she can be a right bitch sometimes.” he said between hurried drags, “sorry is okay for me to smoke here?, forgot to ask- I’ve got my tin.”

“Yeah… It’s fine.” Lance sat down on the small stone wall that surrounded a bunch of bushes. Keith leaned on the wall of the house. 

“I might aswell tell you.” Keith huffed, “Back there Nyma was about to tell the story of why i was in juvie, and she knows full well I barely know those guys. She loves drama. I only went  _ once  _ by the way.. Though I bet those ‘ _ high class _ ’ housewives would tell you different…”

“So you did notice…” Lance said aloud. He was only meant to think it.

“Their looks?, how can I not?,” He shook his head roughly. It was like he was shaking off more than the thought. Lance noticed what he thought might be tears beading at the edge of Keith’s eyes. With the shake of his head they were gone. “It’s not like it matters what those assholes think.”

“Lance!.” 

Lance’s heart jump started. His mom was close. Keith was still smoking. If she caught him-. Lance scrambled up. He grabbed Keith by the arm and pulled him behind the bush. “Shhh!.” He hissed at Keith’s confused face. His mom passed with the clack-clack of her sensible party heels. He heard the front door open and close. He let out a sigh of relief.  

“Want to explain?.” Keith asked, pulling out his tin to get rid of the cigarette. He crushed the butt inside and tucked it away.

“If she saw you smoking I’d never be allowed to see you again.” Lance said, cringing inwardly at how cheesy that sounded. He looked at Keith. He was smiling. It suddenly dawned on Lance that there was only a few inches between them.  He gulped. 

“You said it was a garden party but I didn’t think we’d be getting this close to nature.” Keith laughed.

“Yeah, It’s all over you.” Lance said, plucking a twig from his hair. He hated to think it but he was lost in Keith’s eyes. He felt himself lean forward. He wanted to kiss him. And he would have.

Keith cleared his throat. Lance came to his senses.

“We should get back huh?.” Lance said, covering up his flustered state. They crawled out from the bush and very awkwardly dusted themselves off. If he’d been on the outside looking in it might look like they’d been  _ up to something  _ in the bush. 

When they returned to the table Lance noticed that Keith’s chair had been filled by Hunk, now leaving two chairs side by side freed up. Hunk winked at Lance as they sat down. He felt lightheaded.

Luckily Keith didn’t seem as put off by what happened. He sprung back into the conversation like he was never angry at Nyma and Lance hadn’t just tried to-... he didn’t need to think about it. He stared into his cup of orange juice. He tapped the cup up and down, concentrating on the ripples that spread and hit into the side. He took a deep breath and said, with a smile on his face, “Did you guys see the trailer for that new marvel movie?.” With that, he was back in the game. 

Hours later, when everybody was leaving, Lance walked Keith to the gate. Cars drove past them as they headed down. “So.... that wasn’t so bad right?.”

“It was great.” Keith said with a wink. Then he left. Lance shook his head, what on earth did that mean?. He made his way back up the small hill with his brow furrowed deeply. He didn’t understand Keith. He didn’t even understand himself. 

Back in his room Hunk was sitting on his bed. He was staying the night. “Hunk.” Lance said as he sat down, “How the fuck didn’t I realise?.”

“If you’re talking about you liking Keith,” Hunk burst out into laughter, “I don’t know.”

“This isn’t funny oh my god.” Lance flung himself backwards onto his bed and pressed his hands to his face. “The first place I invited him was my mother’s goddamn garden party, and she  _ hates  _ him.”

Hunk continued laughing, “You’re so oblivious dude. I bet you liked him since the start and didn’t even know.”

He sat up, “No. That’s too much of a stretch….” Lance said, not even letting himself consider that thought. There was no way he could be that much of a cliche. No way. He wouldn’t allow it. “Anyway enough about me, has anything happened with Shay?.”

“Stop trying to change the subject, you know what’s going on with us.”

He did. Hunk and Shay were courting. At least that’s what Lance liked to call it, to him their relationship felt too pure to be called dating. Lance thought he might even be more excited about their relationship than them, he felt like a proud parent. “No getting out the easy way then, huh?.”

“Nope. so, did you put the moves on him tonight?.” Hunk wiggled his eyebrows, “Your slick Lance moves?.”

Lance raised his eyebrows, “yes.” he laughed, “before you take me seriously that was a joke.”

Hunk raised his eyebrows in a way that said, “I don’t believe you’

“Well I did try to- doesn’t matter-” Lance said, backing out of that statement as fast as possible.

Hunk grinned, “What did you try to do?.” Hunk wiggled his eyebrows again. Lance rolled his eyes, “You better tell me or I’ll think the worst…” 

“Alright, fine, fine.” Under his breath Lance said;  “I was gonna kiss him.”

“What?.”

“I was gonna kiss him!.”

Hunk clapped his hands, “oh my god oh my god oh my god!. Why didn’t you!?!, you should’ve!.” He patted Lance’s back enthusiastically.

Lance shoved him off, though not in a cruel way. “Well, first, I was more nervous than I’ve ever been in my life,  and second Keith was the one who stopped me. This is embarrassing to talk about....”

Hunk nodded, but made an encouraging gesture.

Lance looked away. “So, we were super close and I leaned in, and I swear I wasn’t thinking before i did it. My body just moved… then he like cleared his throat?. But I knew he wanted me not to do it. It was super embarrassing. I’m glad he didn’t say anything about it or I would’ve died.”

“Hmmm. I think he does like you though.” Hunk said, with all the confidence in the world.

“Shut up.”

“No, I do. I really do. I think he might just be a little wary after... you know?.”

“Yeah…” Lance lied back down. “Makes sense.”

After that they didn’t talk for a long while. Eventually Hunk got up and left the room, saying he was going to sleep. He was staying in the guest room that night. Lance stared up at his ceiling. He wanted keith to be next to him. He didn’t even have to talk or do anything. Lance just liked him to be there. Lance slapped a hand to his face, “Oh god… I’m fucked.”


	7. Hanging out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo ma beans, my doos, my friends. I'm sorry I've been absolute trash at updating this fic but I've been busy. Also season 3 was good... uhhh Klance is goin strong. I hope u guys are still in any way interested in this garbage fic. Ily. <3.

“Lance Charles McClain!.” 

Lance jumped at the sound and sat up in a haze. His mom was standing at the foot of his bed with her face drawn into a scowl. “What?.”  Lance mumbled, his eyes were blurry and his voice was dripping with sleep.

“You  _ know what.”  _ She scoffed, her arms crossed tightly and her face full of anger. Lance shook his head slowly. He didn’t. “Don’t you give me that young man, you know very well that Keith Kogane is not someone I want you to even  _ speak  _ to let alone invite to  _ my  _ garden party.”

So it was that. Lance threw his blankets off and let his bare feet touch the floor with a soft  _ pad.  _ “He’s my friend.” Lance said, feeling pride in that. 

“He’s your  _ what?.”  _ Her mouth was forming a big round ‘O’ and her eyes matched. Lance had heard her speak in this tone of utter disgust before, but not with as much malice as she threw into it now.

“My friend.” Lance replied, trying to remain calm, “And I like him.”

Her mouth dropped open again, so comically that Lance thought he might laugh. He kept it in. She shook her head. Her lips were pursed and her mouth was flapping open and closed. He could tell she was searching her brain for exactly what to say. Once she’d found it she straightened her back and looked him right in the eye. “If I  _ ever  _ see him around you again, you’ll be grounded until you learn your lesson. And all electronics will be taken from your room.”

Lance shook his head, “what the fu-”

“Language!.” She yelled, her face turning red. She cleared her throat, gathering herself. “You don’t understand what it was like to hear the girls talk about you like you’re a delinquent. Amanda was telling me that friends of people like that Keith thug are bound t end up in prison” She tutted, “You know this is for your own good.”

“Mom I’m eighteen!, you can't tell me who to hang out with!.” Lance said, becoming angry now, “It’s ridiculous.” 

“Who do you think you are?, talking to me like that?.” his mom spat back, she was losing composure again.

“What the hell is going on?.” Allura was at the door, still in her pyjamas.

“Mom says I can’t be friends with Keith and she’ll ground me if she sees me with him,” Lance explained, glaring at his mom all the while.

“Mom , you can't do that.” Allura said, shaking her head and sounding just as confused as Lance felt. Lance spread his arm at her to show support in her opinion. “Besides he’s in my class and he’s really very sweet, bit troubled maybe, but sweet.”

“Troubled. “She rolled her eyes, “He’s more than that. He’s a stain.” 

“Mom he’s just a kid. Lance knows better than to get into trouble.” Allura said, her form blocking some of lance’s view of his mother’s changing face.

His mom tapped her foot. Considering. “Alright.” She muttered. “But he’s never to come to the house again, okay?.”

“Fine.” 

She stormed from the room leaving Lance and Allura. They locked eyes and shared an exaggerated eye roll. She walked over and plopped herself on the bed next to Lance. “I’m glad I heard what was happening..” Allura said, winding a lock of her her around her finger. “To be honest I was glad when I saw Keith at your table yesterday.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re on my side.” Lance sighed.

“‘Course.” Allura said with a wink. “No-one could win against our mom on their own.” She patted Lance's back, “alright , I’m off to get dressed, I’m going to lunch.”

“Not with Jack  _ please. _ ” Jack was her latest boyfriend. They’d been together for a month now and Lance hated him. He was full of himself and probably full of steroids too. Lance didn’t know what she saw in him.

“Of course with jack and you can shut up about him, he’s nice.” She skipped out of the room without a care, “besides it doesn’t matter what you think about him.” She shut the door. 

Lance swung his legs back onto the bed, he wasn't ready for the day yet. It eventually devolved into a lazy day. Lance was watching youtube videos for hours, with his head rested in such a way that he had at least two chins.

He heard a beep from his phone, he glanced over.

**Keith:** u free rn?

Lance’s heart skipped a beat. His mind flipped through about five hundred ways he could reply. 

**Lance:** yup :)

He threw his phone at the bed and it bounced onto his pillow. He stared at it. He regretted the smily face. Not casual enough. A wink would’ve been too far… 

_ Beep. _

He grabbed it.

**Keith:** wanna hang?

**Lance:** yeah :P

**Keith:** cool I’ll come pick u up. Meet at your gate in twenty?.

**Lance:** perfect 

It was then Lance realised he only had twenty minutes to get dressed and have a shower. He leapt from his bed and bolted. He had the quickest shower he’d ever had in his life. He rubbed the towel on his head and put on some jeans a t-shirt and a hoodie. He was finished with five minutes to spare. He hurried out from his house, sneaking past his mom who was on the phone with his aunt complaining about their neighbour. Sure enough Keith was waiting at the gate on his bike, just out of sight.

“Hey.” Lance said, wishing he had something better to say. This was the first time he’d seen Keith since he realised he liked him, even though he hadn’t been that long it was safe to say he was apprehensive. 

“Hey.” Keith said in reply, “Take this.” Lance was handed a helmet. He put it on and hopped onto the bike, his hands taking their place around Keith. The helmet smelled of Keith. The engine revved and they were off. It didn’t take long for Lance to figure out where they were going. As the wind made his jacket whip around he took a deep breath and he was calm and comfortable. The houses became trees and bushes and they were nearly there.  Keith pulled the bike up the small hill denying any help from Lance.

The view was as pretty as ever. The sky was almost totally clear and turing a soft orange but there was a stiff cold breeze that made blades of grass wave about. Lance sat down. Keith joined him moments later. 

“So what’s the plan?.” Lance asked. 

“Well I did have one idea.” Keith pulled his black backpack to his side  and  zipped it pen. Lance craned his head to see. Keith pulled a pack of cans from the bag and placed them in front of Lance.  “Now I know you’re a good boy so you don’t have to drink if you don’t wanna.”

Lance stared at Keith. He didn’t know how to react at all. “What -uh- what about getting home?.”

Keith laughed a little, “I wasn’t going to drive drunk if that’s what you’re asking. I’ll be sober before twelve, or we can stay the night.”

“Oh.. right... okay.” Lance said. His brain was full of _ ‘we can stay the night’.  _ “Sure, then I’m up for it.”

“Good good.” 

Keith tore the plastic wrapping off and handed Lance the first can before grabbing one for himself. Lance cracked it open easily. He was more than apprehensive now. He’d never drunk more than a sip of beer in his life. Sure there was drink at parties, easy access at every turn but he just never did it. He didn’t have a moral stance either way… he just didn’t want to lose control. But something he did want to do, even though he’d never admit it, was impress Keith. He put the can to his lips. The taste was … new.  He grimaced slightly as he swallowed the beer. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever tasted but it wasn’t great.

Keith gulped some of the drink and looked at Lance, “It’s not good but it’s cheap and that’s all that really matters.”

Lance nodded. “Not good at all.”

Keith laughed, “You’ll get used to it.”

After Lance finished one of the cans, which he’d tried to get down as quickly as possible without looking silly, Lance began to feel lightheaded. His body began to feel silly. All his movements seemed exaggerated and flowy. 

“You’re drunk.” Keith said with Lance wanted to call a fond smile, “I knew you’d be a lightweight.”

“I am.” Lance giggled, “Biggest lightweight ever, you gotta catch up.” he picked another can from the packet and handed it to Keith. “Chug, chug chug.”

Keith took the drink, rolled his eyes and he  _ chugged.  _ The drink was gone in mere seconds. He wiped the excess off his mouth and turned to lance with a prideful smirk, “There.”

“Wowwww… how much till you’re drunk too?.”

“Maybe three more, depends.” Keith said with a shrug “Oh I didn’t eat much today so probably oone more.”

“Whaaat!?.” Lance said, picked two more cans, “thas a lot.” he handed one to Keith, “go on then.”

“Lance I’m not chugging three beers in a row.” He took them from Lance's hand and opened another one, “But I’ll drink ‘em.”

“Okay.” Lance lied down and looked up at keith, “What was the first time you got drunk?.”

“It was when I was fifteen, I was with my friend Rolo, he’s like a year older and got his brother to buy him some beer and we got drunk together. I remember him telling me how much he wanted to do some girl he knew. He asked me if I had any girl. I told him about the hot person in my math class…  I wonder what he would’ve said if he knew that person’s name was Luke.”

Lance burst out laughing, “He probably would’ve been upset that your crush wasn’t on him.”

“I doubt it.” Keith said.

Lance rolled over onto his side and looked up at Keith’s profile, “What about smoking, why’d you start?.”

Keith scratched his neck, “Uhh, that was Rolo too, when I was fifteen.” 

“Damnn not such a good role model is he?.” Lance sat up and moved closer to Keith. He was leaning against a rock.

“Not so much, you better never start smoking.” Keith warned, “I’ve been trying to stop but it’s tough.”

Lance watched as Keith gulped for a while, “When did you get used to the taste of beer?.”

“That was Eli’s fault.” Keith said. “He used to make me drink with him at first before we did it. He said it made it feel better, but I think he did it to either gather the courage or try and forget it the next day.”

Lance’s stomach dropped. “Sorry.”

“Nah don’t be. I’m better off without him anyway.”  Keith said, then he changed the subject “You're full of questions tonight aren’t you?.”

“Mmhmm… I want to know everything about you.” if he hadn’t been drunk then there’d be no way on this earth he’d have said that. No way. But he meant it, even more than he knew. Keith smiled gently. A warm feeling grew in Lance’s chest, he felt light. He didn’t know if it was the alcohol or Keith, maybe it was an intoxicating mixture of the two.

“You’re sweet.” Keith said, “There’s not really much to know, really…”

“Fair enough.” Lance mumbled, “Tell me your favourite colour then?.”

“Hmm-”

“Black doesn’t count.” Lance interrupted with a teasing grin, “It’s a shade, emo kid, so it doesn’t count..”

Keith laughed, “I would be offended if I hadn’t been about to chose black.” he thought for  moment then said. “Red.”

“Makes sense..”

“Why’s that?.”

“It suit you.” Lance said, smiling a rather sloppy smile. He felt his heart do an urging flutter, much like it had the yesterday at his garden party. He wanted to kiss Keith. Damn he  _ really  _ wanted to kiss him. And before he knew it. He had.

It felt like it happened both in slow motion and faster than ever. He felt a numbed version of everything. The coldness of the beer can that was dangerously close to falling from his hand. The  bumpy surface of the rock digging into his back. The itchy bites of insects he couldn’t name. Until he only felt one thing, the roughness of Keith’s chapped lips on his own. 

And it was over.

“I’m sorry.” Lance said, sitting up and dropping the can onto Keith’s leg, spilling it, “oh fuck, I’m sorry.” he pulled off his hoodie and pressed it into Keith’s leg. 

“It’s okay, Lance.” Keith said, avoiding eye contact.

“I ruined it.” Lance said.

Keith chuckled, “ruined what?.”

“I didn't mean to say that out loud.” he admitted

Keith ran a hand through his hair and Lance stared on “You’ve said it now though, you gotta tell me what it means.” 

Lance let out a short nervous laugh. “Us.” he said.

Keith snorted and it was so cute Lance felt his heart implode. “You just kissed me and spilled a drink on me, you didn’t ‘ruin’ anything.” he sighed, “I just don’t want you to… I don’t want you to think I got you drunk so I could kiss you. I only wanted to hang out, I swear.”

“So you don’t want to kiss me?.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Lance took that as permission. He leaned forward and made their mouths meet, it was a sloppy test. Lance moved back but Keith followed and they were connected again. Lance had never been so excited in his life. He grasped Keith by the waist, reminding him that this was real. Keith was in front of him, and they were kissing, they really were. Lance pulled Keith into his lap. 

“You’re eager.” Keith laughed.

Lance smiled, that was his ‘yes’. He leaned down and soon their kiss deepened, tongues meeting with gentleness on Keith’s side and  inexperience on Lance’s. It felt so good. If he hadn’t been drunk he’d be nervous but right now he was just there. There was nothing in his mind but Keith. They stayed like that as the stars grew into the sky. Their hands roamed over each other, grasping at clothes and delving into hair.

It was Keith who broke their kiss and when Lance tried to resume it he placed his hands either side of Lance’s face and whispered; “let me show you something.” He stood up and pulled at lance’s hand. They walked up a few metres. “I told you before there was a place I loved better than this one, and it’s right here.”

Lance’s eyebrows knitted together but he followed nonetheless. They went further up the path.They came to a bunch of bushes. Keith pushed them back and through the parted leaves he saw one of the most beautiful places he’d ever seen. Somehow the sky was even more vast than it had been just a while away. There was a tree that Lance couldn’t think to name. Keith led him to the base and sat down. “Here we are.”

“It’s beautiful.” He murmured.

Breaking the moment, Lance’s phone buzzed, shakily he took it out of his pocket.

**Mom:** where are you?

He noticed the time, it was eleven. Damn. fuck. Shit. he sent a text to hunk

**Lance:** i imm s taying at ur hous e

**Lance:** imnot. If mom asks im am

Then he was typing a text to his mom but handed it to Keith. Say i’m staying at hunks.

**Lance:** I’m staying at Hunk’s

Then came a reply, 

**Mom:** okay, enjoy xx

**Lance:** I will

Lance didn’t consider why his mom was being so lenient, but if he had he’d have guessed it had something to do with her behaviour earlier. Nonetheless he threw his phone down and turned his attention to Keith.

They did only three things that night, they kissed, watched the stars and dozed. It all melted together. Lance began to sober up as the morning light peeked over the horizon. He’d just been dozing and his eyes blinked slowly open. He was cold, but not enough to shiver. The yellow dawn made the dew on the grass sparkle like gemstones. He could hear the noise birds chirping in the trees, and them rustling about. Beside him Keith’s form was slowly moving up and down with every soft breath he drew. His face was at peace but his brow started to furrow as he began to stir awake. 

“What time is it.” He murmured, rubbing his eyes.

Lance checked his phone, “Nearly seven.” 

Keith buried his head into Lance’s side, “Way too early to be alive.”

Lance nudged him, “Watch the sunrise with me.” He whispered, gazing out at the sky.

Keith chuckled, “Okay.” He pushed u next to Lance so he could see then rested his head on Lance's shoulder.

It felt like they were the only two people in the entire world. This was their own personal heaven, away from everything, and everyone that bothered them. Lance wrapped his arm around Keith and pulled him close. “You’re so warm.”

“And your hands are freezing.” Lance went to move them but Keith grabbed them in his own and rubbed them. “Let’s warm you up, idiot.”

Lance left a goofy laugh escape, “you know if you said that a couple weeks ago I would’ve been mad.”

“And I would’ve been serious.”

“Shut up.” Lance said, kissing the top of Keith’s hair.

They cuddled and talked about nothing, falling in and out of sleep as they did so, until twelve o’clock rolled around and it was getting uncomfortable. “Breakfast?.” Keith asked, standing up.

“Yup, yup.” Lance replied, following.

Keith took him to a diner at the edge of town. He had pancakes covered in syrup and sugar and he loved it. Keith had bacon, sausage and an egg. As they ate Lance got to thinking that he never wanted to go home. He wanted to stay in this day forever, he could live it over and over and never be bored. He smiled to himself. He was so happy it was hard to keep from laughing.

“I’d better take you home now.” Keith said, “I have to go to work in a few hours.”

“Okay” Lance said “I had a great time.”

“Me too.” Keith said, and they were off. Keith stopped a few metres before Lance’s gate. Lance hopped down and motioned for Keith to take his helmet off. “What?.”

He pressed a quick kiss onto his lips and rushed off, “bye!.” He called, running away as the courage left him. That might’ve been the cheesiest thing he’d done in his entire life but goddamn if he didn’t enjoy it. He sloped up the pathway home wanting nothing more than to turn around and hop onto that bike again and go back to that space they shared and never leave. Lance giggled to himself. 

He was in love, and he had it bad.


	8. Asking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support on the last chapter!! ily <3  
>  [oh I have some new Lance art on my insta!, check it out if you want :P](https://www.instagram.com/toffeearts/?hl=en)

Hunk was about ready to burst as he came into Lance’s room. He nearly slammed the door behind him and rushed up to Lance with purpose in his step, “You never replied to me!.” he said, his face full of an equal amount of indignation and excitement “What happened to you last night!?.”

“Shit.” Lance said, scrambling for his phone “I never saw your message.” he went through his phone and sure enough there were the messages, all twenty of them to be exact. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said, waving it off with a brisk hand motion, “Just give. Me. Answers.” He parked himself on Lance’s bed and stared him down.

“Okay, okay… so I was hanging out with Keith and we ended up, y’know staying out all night, no biggie.” Lance said, crossing his arms to show he was done.

Hunk’s face went blank and he blinked a few times. “Lance,  _ All _ night?.”

“No, Hunk, no, no no no -not like  _ that _ ” He said, shaking his head, “W-We only made out, innocent stuff.”

Hunk crossed his own arms, “Pfft, even if you just made out with him I know you were drinking and that’s the opposite of innocent.”

“Oh, yeah, that too.” Lance said, trying to brush it off with a shrug “It was-”

“Oooh look at you, acting all cool.” Hunk teased.

Lance rolled his eyes, “Whatever, I had fun.”

“I’m kidding,” Hunk said, “but does this mean you’re dating?.”

“Uh… no?.” Lance thought about it. He hadn’t asked Keith, and Keith hadn’t asked him either. “I guess we’re not?.”

“Whaaaaat?.” Hunk look disappointed.

“We didn’t really talk about that. It wasn’t really on my mind….” it was now though.

A few hours later, long after Hunk had left to work at his parents shop, Lance was still thinking about Keith and the fact that he wasn’t his boyfriend. Lance was almost sure Keith would say yes if he asked but Lance also had the tendency to doubt himself… what if Keith wasn’t over Eli yet?. What if he didn’t measure up to Eli in the looks department?. What if Keith didn’t want a relationship?. Whatever the question was the word ‘rejection’ seemed to loom over Lance’s head. Lance stuffed his head into his hands and groaned. He _had_ to ask _._ He _had to_. He decided the next time they were alone together he’d do it. Just the thought made his heart skip a beat.

He pulled the pillow he was holding to chest, “Guhhhhh.” 

“Am I interrupting?.” Lance jumped out of his skin. Aluura was standing at the door, her hair worn in a tight bun. She had some clothes piled in her arms. 

“Where you going?.” He asked.

“Out with Jack.” She came closer and held out the clothes, “Which one?.”  in her left hand, dangling from a hanger was a rose coloured jumper and a pair of brown pants. In her right was flowery skirt and a lilac jumper. 

“I guess if it’s a date the skirt one… it’s more fun.” Lace said, his voice muffled by his pillow.

“Thanks.” she left in a hurry and Lance sat up. Allura made dating look so easy. She hadn’t dated  _ that  _ many people in her life. But she’d had enough girlfriends and boyfriends to impress Lance. She was always so heartbroken after break ups but she always so easily got back on the horse and went into seeing other people. Maybe he could ask her for advice. Lance, not entirely knowing what he was doing, stood up and padded tentatively to Allura’s room. Her door was open and the song ‘cherry wine’ by Hozier was playing softly. He hovered by the door and watched her. She hadn’t got changed yet and was sat at her make up table putting on eyeliner with very precise movements.

“Come in if you want.” Allura said. “I don’t mind.”

Lance didn’t reply. He came in and sat onto her bed. He fiddled with the button on her lilac jumper. “Allura what’s it like to… be in a relationship?.”

He saw her smile into the mirror. “It’s great, mostly. When you like the other person it’s really fun and amazing. But sometimes they don’t like to communicate or they turn out not to be who you thought they were…”

“So… you think all relationships are doomed to fail?.” Lance asked.

She laughed, “Do you think I’d still be dating people if I thought that?.” Lance shook his head, “Exactly. One day I’ll be with someone and we’ll end up getting married. I know that. But don’t get me wrong that’s not all I want in life.” Lance knew that. She’d made it extremely clear to each and every person she dated that they weren’t her entire world. Most of them respected her for that- others hadn’t.

He let a silence form and felt the courage build inside him, faltering a few times before saying “How…” he hesitated again.

“How?.” 

“How do you… y’know…” His voice retreated to a whisper  “Ask someone to go out with you?.”

“Hmm?.”

“ _ How do you ask someone to go out with you _ .” He blurted, feeling his face begin to redden before she even replied. He braced himself for a mocking.

“I’ve always found that coming out and saying it is the best way to go.” She said. Lance looked over, she was applying eyeshadow with light dabs of a small brush. “That way even if they said no, you tried.”

So it  _ was  _ that simple. All he had to do was pluck up the courage and ask. “Thanks.” He said, standing up and heading towards the door.

“You’re welcome… and good luck.” He caught her wink in the reflection of the mirror just before he left.

So all he had to do was ask. He made it seem so easy but something in Lance’s stomach said it would be  _ much  _ harder than that.

It was a few weeks before Lance plucked up the courage to ask. They’d hung out multiple times since the last time, more often than not it ended in bouts of kissing and restrained touching. Sometimes there was no kissing at all, and the common theme in the non-kissing hangouts was the presence of Hunk. Today they were in town, sitting on a curb outside a clothes shop that was closing for the evening. There weren’t many people around. Keith was swishing the ice in his drink cup around with the straw and listening to Lance speaking. He wasn’t talking about anything that mattered too much. He was thinking about what Allura said, that all you had to do was ask and it’d be better than saying nothing at all. So he stopped midway through a sentence and said, “I  _ have  _ to ask you something.”

Keith looked up at him, noticing the change of tone in his voice, “Yeah?.”

Oh fuck oh fuckohfuckohfuck. His mouth felt like cotton and his heart was suddenly an engine. “Uhh ?, will-uhm do you?... uh.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “You know that I like you, right?.”

Keith chuckled, “Yeah. I do.”

“And you like me?.” He asked, his voice almost wavering.

Keith smirked his navy eyes twinkling, “Confident aren’t we?, yeah. I like you.”

“So my question is..” he swallowed his fear with a final gulp,  “Will you go out with me?.” 

Keith blinked twice then looked down at his drink then back up at Lance. “I…. will you let me think about It…. it’s definitely not no but I just-”

“It’s okay, I understand. Take your time.” Lance was relieved. Thinking about it was far, far better than an outright no. That meant he had hope. That’s all he could ask for.

Keith smiled gently. “Thanks.”

They went home soon after that, by bus. It could have been awkward, in fact the chance that it was going to be was very high. But after their conversation both of them acted like it hadn’t happened and Lance was grateful for that.

As soon as he got home Lance went upstair to tell Allura, he felt that he’d even asked was a triumph. He stride to her room with a grin on his face, but as he approached everything turned sour. He heard sounds of a fight happening between Allura and Jack. He edged closer and Jack’s voice boomed;  “-spewing that bullshit, you’re just making excuses for being a slut!.” 

“I was only texting him because we work together you fucking jerk!, his car got towed and he needed a ride. God you’re such a fucking-”

SMACK.

Lance saw it thought the crack in the door. Jack’s hand was on Allura’s skin and then it wasn’t. It left a red mark. Lance burst through the door. His fists clenched and full of malicious intent.

“Lance!.” Allura rushed forward and pushed him out of the room with such force that he stumbled, her brow was furrowed but determined, “I can handle this.” she shut the door in his face. 

He stood there, his fists dangling uselessly by his side. His anger hadn’t subsided and he wanted nothing more than to go into her room and punch Jack right in his fucking face. Instead he walked away. Allura said she could handle It. She could handle it.

He repeated the sentence in his mind.  _ She can handle it _ . He pressed open palms down onto his knees.  _ She can handle it.  _ He pushed nails into his pants.  _ She can handle it.  _ He dragged his nails up his leg.  _ She can handle it.  _

He heard stomping down the hallway and a gruff voice then his door creaked open. Allura came in, the red mark on her face was still there. He hadn’t imagined it. She walked in, her footsteps nearly silent. The bed creaked as she sat down. She took Lance’s hand in hers. And opened her mouth to softly say, “I’m sorry you had to see that..”

Lance felt a cold tear beading at his eye. “Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault.” His lip quivered. He could see the scene being played out over and over in his mind. “He’s a fucking asshole. I-”

“Lance, look at me. “ She placed a hand either side of his face and suggested it towards her, “I’ve dumped him now. I’ll never see him again.” she was smiling. Lance thought he heard his heart shatter. Her cheek was beginning to swell. 

Lance felt a curse begin to threaten but he bit his tongue. He held her hands in his. “You shouldn’t be comforting me.” He said firmly. “I should be comforting you.” he held his arms out for a hug.

He saw Allura’s lip wobble like he hadn’t seen since they were kids and he’d accidentally hit her with a baseball. She wrapped her arms around his waist and sobbed silently, until her tears seeped through his shirt and onto his skin. Apart from the sniffling from Allura and the combined noise of their breathing, all that could be heard was the rustle of the wind outside and bird singing in the distance.

It wasn’t long before Allura sat up and wiped her face. She gave Lance what could only be described as a ‘winning smile’ and said in a voice that dripped with positivity. “It’ll be okay.”

He didn’t need to say anything after that, he just nodded and smiled. They shared swift hug and she left to her room claiming that it was time for some self care. He curled up on his bed after that. The wet patch on his t-shirt felt  felt huge he felt like a toddler in comparison. 

He didn’t want to feel sorry for himself but he couldn’t help it. He’d just watched his sister get hit in the face and let the asshole get away without a scratch. He knew that in this day and age girls didn’t need their brothers to protect them with violence, but knowing that did nothing to the beating his pride had taken. Mother fucking hypermasculinity.

It wasn’t until he woke up that lance knew he’d fallen asleep. He was in a dreadful state of waking up, the kind where you felt you hadn’t slept in years. His head was heavy and his mood was swirling like dark clouds. He swung his legs over his bed and rested them on the floor. His head nodded a bit. He wiped his face with both of his hands, trying to will himself to be awake. The sun was gone and his room was bathed in darkness. He stood up and went to the bathroom, it was an instinct that he followed without thought. He finished quickly and was going back to his room when he heard a voice.

“I do like you.” it was Allura’s voice.

Lanc’es entire body tensed up. His mind went red. He marched down the hallway. His fingernails bit into his palms. He pushed her door open, ready to confront her about Jack. “Allura you-” he stopped immediately. There was someone else in the room. She was kissing him… and it wasn’t Jack. “Coach Shiro..??”

It was him, in the flesh and a pair of skinny jeans and a sweater. His coach. In his sister's room. _Kissing his_ _sister._

He lifted his arm and scratched the back of his head, “Uh… hi?.”

Lance was bewildered. He looked to allura then to Shiro and repeated that a few times before he cleared his throat and said lamely; “Hi.” He looked at Allura for an explanation.

She looked defeated, “I’ll explain.” She stood up, gave Shiro a small wave and pulled Lance out of her room and back into his. “Sit down.” He obliged.

“First of all, I never cheated on Jack.” She crossed her arms. Lance didn't say anything. “Shiro never tried to get me to cheat either.” Lance nodded slowly. His brain felt like it was underwater. “We’re not going to date for a while either but I really like him Lance, I really do.”

“Okay.” Lance said. He was unable to form anything even slightly more intelligent than that.

Allura sighed and sat herself down next to Lance. She put her head in her hands. Her platinum curls fell forwards over her knees. “I’ve made a mess of it haven’t I?.” She said, her voice almost a sob.

Lance took a deep breath, “No….” He put his hand on her back and rubbed it, “It’s just…. Surprising.”

“I suppose so,” She chuckled, looking up at Lance, her eyes were watery and puffy around the edges. “He  _ is  _ your coach.”

“I know.” Lance said, beginning to see the humour in it. Allura burst out laughing and he joined her.

“I’m sorry about all this, I’m traumatizing you.” Allura said.

“It’s okay Lurs,” He shook his head, “I’ll get over it. It’s nice to see you smiling again and if the one that makes you smile is my coach… then I guess you can date him.”

She pinched his cheek fondly and Lance batted her off, “Thanks for your permission little bro.”

“No problem.” 

She got up and winked at him, “don’t tell mom and dad about this - or earlier- okay?”

“pfft , do you think I’m crazy??, sibling solidarity forever!.” She laughed again and Lance felt a weight lift off his shoulders. “Night.”

“Night.”, she replied, her voice only at a whisper now. She let the door close with a  _ click  _ behind her and he was alone again.

He looked at his pillow, knowing he wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon. Finding your sister kissing your coach was one way to wake yourself up.

Lance got a total of two hours sleep that night and sat in his first class with his head leaning firmly on his hand. He fought against his drooping eyelids but couldn’t put in much more energy than that.  At the end of the class he walked out of the room like he was wading through waist deep water. He didn’t participate in conversation apart from the occasional “yeah.” he got away without too much explanation.

Facing Keith again had been made so much easier with the fact that he couldn’t seem to think properly, so he just… forgot. He didn’t  _ mean  _ to, it just slipped. He only remembered when he looked at Keith and had the stomach flip you get when you realise you left your wallet in your house. It was easy though, they didn’t mention it.

Lance got through the day without it going too wrong but as he walked out of the door of the school, Hunk at his side, he was stopped by the calling of his name. It was Shiro looking nervous as he smiled. “Would you mind coming to talk with me?.”

Lance looked at hunk. “Uhh I gotta go home with him-”

“Go talk to him Lance, I’ll wait in the car.” Hunk said and he left.

Lance followed Shiro to a quiet classroom. Shiro gestured to a chair and Lance sat down. Shiro sat across from him. It felt like an interview. Shiro tapped his fingers on the table for a little while, probably coming up with what to say. Lance gave him an encouraging nod.

“So… you know about me and Allura?.” He said, “Yeah stupid question uhh… we had a mutual friend in college and we used to hang out…. We were dating other people then but now- well I know she was dating Jack but he's a-” Shiro stopped himself before swearing and chuckled “Y’know… so we were thinking of having a go at it ourselves….” He looked to Lance, seemingly for approval.

Lance nodded slowly. It was a lot to absorb. He didn’t  _ hate  _ the idea of Shiro as his sister’s boyfriend, it was just new. He  _ was  _ his coach after all.  He ran his hand through his hair. He wasn’t in any right mind to think about it right then. But he had to reply, “As long as you don’t hit her you’ll be doing a lot better than the old one. Can I go now?.”

Shiro stood up in an awkward rush, “Yes of course.” he didn’t look too overjoyed at Lance’s words. He didn’t know what Shiro expected, but it had probably been more than what he got. “See you at practice!”

“Yeah. See you.” Lance headed down the hallway feeling relief, now finally he could go home and crash. He made it to Hunk’s car and Hunk was waiting eagerly for an explanation. “Before you ask, he wanted to talk about Allura. I caught them kissing yesterday and they’re going to start dating soon. Now drive me home so I can go to sleep  _ please. _ ”

“You caught them kissing!?.” his eyes were wide and his voice was loud.

Lance nodded and let his head rest on his seat. “it's what kept me up last night and I don’t want to think about it anymore today thanks.” It came out with more bite than he wanted. Lance knew he was being unfair but he was in a bad mood now and just wanted to sleep.

“Okay.” Hunk said. He didn’t try to pester Lance any further and just drove him home. Lance felt guilty the entire time but he couldn’t think how to fix his mess. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and was grateful of the time where he didn’t have to think.


	9. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry guys,,,, T-T. I swear I won't leave this unfinished, I'm just having a hard time getting inspired lately.......
> 
> if you guys wanna see what I've been doing for inktober, [check out my insta toffeearts](https://www.instagram.com/toffeearts/) theres some klance and a Lance thing im really proud of?. 
> 
> Also I hate to be that guy but if you like this story can you comment some thoughts about it??, i'm having a hard time with this....

“Why is this idiot going back into the sewing room with five minutes left!!, hot glue gun it moron…” Lance yelled at the T.V. “Tim’s gonna be mad.” he adding, mumbling through the popcorn in his mouth. 

There was a knock on his door and he tilted his head back as far as it could, “Come in!.” the door opened after his call.

“Hey Lance.” It was Allura, looking good with her hair in a ponytail that let her curls cascade over her shoulders. “What’re you watching?.” she asked, squinting at the screen.

“Project runway.” he replied, pausing it with a swift tap. 

Her face lit up “Ah awesome!, I used to watch that.”

“Whatcha want?.” Lance asked , wanting to get back to his popcorn and the drama that was about to ensue.

“Oh yeah.” she brandished a pair of jeans covered in flowers, “are these too brave?.”

“For what?.” Lance asked, his brow furrowing.

She grimaced. “I have a…  _ kinda date  _ with Shiro…”

Lance took the bowl of popcorn off his stomach and sat up, crossing his arms. “Huh, thought we were gonna leave it a few more weeks?.”

Allura smiled sweetly ad help the pants up like a shield, “I did too….but I  _ reallllly  _ like him, and to be fair it’s already been two weeks.” 

Lance sighed there was no use arguing with her, “Where’s the date happening?.”

Her eyes lit up, “Yayyy!. I like it when you’re on my side!. We’re going to starbucks.”

“Wear the pants.” Lance said. “They fit right in with the aesthetic. Now leave before I change my opinion.”

“Shut up, you love me.” she flipped the pants over her shoulder and sauntered out, she shut the door but Lance heard her giggling down the hallway.

He resumed his position, regaining some chins as he did. Justs as he played the T.V his phone beeped. It was a message from Hunk.

**Hunk:** did he give u an answer yet??

Lance rolled his eyes, more out of fondness than anything else. Lance had apologised to him after being rude about the Allura and Shiro thing the day after it had happened. Hunk had been all too quick to accept. But he’d felt guilty and tried to make it up by telling him all about Allura and Shiro and throwing in the fact that he’d asked out Keith. It was safe to say Hunk was more than delighted with that piece of information.

**Lance:** nope

**Hunk:** :(

**Lance** : ye ik stop reminding me

**Hunk:** it’s been two weeks!!

“Two weeks” Lance mumbled to himself as he read the message. Lance felt like he’d been waiting for years. He’d of course seen Keith since then, both in school and out but he hadn’t made any attempts to ask Keith for an answer. Lance crushed a piece of popcorn between his fingers and liked the remnants off. He’d been becoming increasingly more anxious as the days past. 

**Lance:** I cant ask him so i gotta wait… D:

**Hunk:** I could ask

Lance saw that and nearly jumped out of his skin. No no no no no. 

**Lance:** dont u dare

**Lance:** I man it

**Lance:** mean*

**Hunk:** ok

**Hunk:** if u wanna get your mind off Keith, you wanna go to the mall w me??? I need sneakers

Lance looked up at his television screen. He didn’t  _ not  _ want to go. But being lazy and doing nothing is so inviting when you have shit to worry about. He flipped his phone over in his hand then sighed. Hunk was being nice and it’d probably be fun.

**Lance:** yeah cool

**Hunk:** collect u in 10?

Lance sent a thumbs up emoji then groaned as he rolled off his bed. He looked down at his appearance. It wasn’t the best he’d ever looked but at least he’d had a shower that morning. He left on his sweatpants and changed his t-shirt which was covered in stains. It was old so but comfortable he couldn’t throw it out.  He slipped on his vans and headed downstairs. To his surprise his dad was sitting on the sofa drinking coffee. The smell filled the air and warmed his heart.

“Mijo!.” hs dad exclaimed with a smile showing from underneath his moustache. He patted the seat next to him and Lance took it. He smelled like he always did; of smoke and musty body spray. His hair was slicked back and he was dressed smartly even though it must be his day off. “What’re you up to?.”

“I’m going to the mall with Hunk.” Lance replied

“Ah Hunk, He’s a great boy, I'm glad you're still friends with him.”, he put his hand on Lance’s head and ruffled his hair. “You have fun and bring me back a treat, ah?”

“You got it,” Lance replied with a wink. A familiar beep sounded from outside. “That's Hunk.” He stood up.

“Wait, take this.” His dad was holding out a twenty.

Lance took it without a second thought, “Gracias.” He said, knowing his dad would appreciate it more in spanish.

He grinned at Lance’s small effort “Have fun.”

“I will.”

The mall was quiet. There were a few shoppers, mostly mothers and groups of teen, milling about the shop. Cashiers looked like they were on their last legs and some even looked like they're legs were gone and their will was now prosthetic. Hunk was staring at the sneakers that lined the rack in some sports shop Lance didn't know the name of. It smelled of plastic and vaguely of sweat. Everything was way too shiny. Lance had his hands stuck in his pockets trying his best to concentrate on the shoe related questions Hunk was asking.

“Is this one a good colour?.”

“Not with our uniform I’d go with red.” He replied tactfully when questioned about a pair of neon green shoes. Neon colours worn regularly, Lance thought, was a travesty to mainstream fashion.

He pushed the tip of his own shoe into the ground. He just wanted to know if Keith actually liked him. He knew he liked him at least enough to kiss and stuff. What if he was bad at kissing… He didn’t have much experience after all. He must be a  _ little  _ good though, Keith seemed to enjoy it. 

Lance caught his eyes in a mirror they walked past and he looked himself over. He definitely wasn’t bad looking. Suddenly something occurred to Lance. He had no idea what Eli holt looked like- and more importantly how he compared. He pulled out his phone while Hunk delved into a shelf. A quick search brought up a likely suspect. He was mutual friends with people in Lance’s school. He clicked the icon and… damn.

He was very good looking. He was the kinda guy that everyone loves because when you look at him your insides melt into a gooey pile of infatuation aka “I'm an idiot”. With a few more clicks Lance discovered the asshole had a girlfriend. Lance shook his head as he replaced the phone in his pocket. With all that he was quickly reminded that Keith was way better than him. He was great looking, his eyes and his mouth and hair and that cute nose-.... and he was so good with his motorbike and his kissing!. Lance was wringing his fingers together tighter and tighter while his thoughts spiraled. Keith had no reason to like him really. People like Eli were way more on Keith’s level.

“Lance?” Hunk’s voice was gentle, he knew something was up, Hunk had a keen eye for when things weren’t quite right with his friends. “You okay buddy?.”

“Yeah.” Lance said, his voice nearly cracking. He cleared his throat, “Nothing a good taco can't fix.” he forced a smile onto his face.

Hunk looked unsure in the reply but smiled anyway. “Okay, I'll just get these shoes and we can head to the food court.”

“Perfect.” Hunk went to stand in line and Lance fiddled with some ugly over-designed shoes to pass the time. It had straps and velcro and laces and Lance couldn’t guess why.

Hunk was done in a few moments and tapped Lance’s shoulder. They fell into step as they walked out of the shop, Hunk leading the way to the food court. He spotted a notification on a tweet he made and began to look through replies and things. He didn’t come back into the world until he bumped into Hunk. he was turning around. Lance looked about. He was heading away from the food court. “It’s right there Hunk what’re you doing.”

“We can get food somewhere else.” Hunk said quickly, his expression was odd.

Lance pushed past Hunk “No, there’s a food place here that I-” he felt his hand drop his phone and it clattered to the ground. “Oh.” he breathed in horrible realisation. Across the food court was Keith. Sitting across from Eli. Their faces were very close. Lance stood for only a second before realising himself. He bent down and scooped up his phone and was off in the other direction before he could have another thought.

He felt like everything was happening at once. Sirens were going off and there were earthquakes and landslides but he was still walking.

“Lance?.” He was sure Hunk said it a few times but his brain wouldn’t process it.

He blinked. They were downstairs now., outside of the entrance to the carpark. When they locked eyes Hunk’s eyebrows were curled up in a soft expression of concern. He pulled Lance into a hug. “It’s okay buddy, I’m sure it was nothing.” Hunk’s voice reverberated through his body and it was comforting but there was a sourness in his stomach that he couldn’t deny. “Let’s get you home okay?.”

Lance nodded, he was ready to cry. But not in a mall parking lot. They walked back to the car and Lance couldn't find the energy to think. He just felt upset. Hunk took him straight home and kept telling him that there must be some mistake and he went on and on but the only thing lance could believe was that he wasn’t good enough and that Keith had realised this and gone back to Eli.

Hunk offered to stay over at Lance’s but he just wanted to be alone. He sat on his bed with his legs curled up to his chest . His room was silent but his brain was loud.

Keith and Eli. Keith was with Eli…. were they getting back together?. It seemed strange to him… He didn’t think Keith would have a reason to go behind Lance’s back like this. He’d be more likely just to say it. Unless… unless he pitied Lance. His face crumpled up and he felt a tears begin to eek out. 

He was pathetic. He was useless. He was ugly. Weak. Spoiled. Undeserving.

Words swirled through his mind and he sobbed quietly in the dark, squeezing his eyes closed tighter and tighter trying to shut away the thoughts. He sniffed. It took him a few tries before he could bring himself to stop crying but when he did he fell straight asleep.

It was pitch black in his room when he awoke, apart from the various coloured light coming from pieces of technology around his room. His clock read 23:56. He rubbed his eyes and they were sore. In the dark  he took out his phone, the bright light glared against his skin and made him squint. He wrote a message to keith.

**Lance:** Hey…. you mind if we could talk about what I said the other week???.

He needed to know now. He needed to rip the bandaid off before he got in too deep. He shook his head. He already was in too deep. He cared a lot about Keith. Maybe even  _ too _ much. He’d never cared for someone like he did for Keith and it terrified him.

When his phone beeped he didn’t look at it at first. He stared at the back of it not wanting to see the other side. But with his index finger he flipped it over and the message was right there glowing.

**Keith:** yeah sure, I was about to text you, I was thinking aout it all day, Wanna talk in person?

Lance’s stomach dropped.  _ All day.  _ He made his hand into a fist and exhaled deeply. It was okay. Just like a bandaid. 

**Lance:** yep

**Keith:** Ok, i’ll head to yours and we can walk around?

**Lance:** see you

**Keith** See youu

Lance put his phone in his pocket and edged himself off of his bed. The floor was cold. He put sock and shoes on and plucked a hoodie from the floor. He tiptoed downstairs and snuck out of the back door. Midnight was entirely too late for his mom to accept on a school night. He made it to the end of his drive in a few minutes and leaned against the outside of the wall. Crossing his arms tightly.

There was a chill to the air that made Lance shiver in his thin hoodie. He rubbed his arms but it made no difference. He would’ve felt felt spiteful, standing out in the cold just to be rejected, but he couldn’t see past is self doubt and pity.

He jumped when he heard a familiar engine. His heart quickened as the motor slowed. He didn’t want to look up but he did. He underestimated how painful it’d be. Keith was smiling as he got off the bike, the wind was playing with his hair and his cheeks were slightly flushed. Lance hated himself for the rush it gace his heart. He took a deep breath.

“Hey stranger.” Keith said, coming closer.

“Hey.” Lance said, his voice breaking midway. He cleared his throat, “Hey.”

Keith didn’t look put off and they fell into step. Keith was leading the way, Lance’s gait wasn’t normal, he didn’t have his usual energy. Keith seemed to be the opposite. They walked for a while in silence. They followed a path lit by streetlamps and the silvery light of the moon.. 

“So you were asking about going out?.” Keith began a few minutes later.

Lance stopped walking and leaned against the nearby wall, feeling weak. “Yeah.”

Keith stopped and looked up at Lance, smiling sweetly. Lance’s heart was in turmoil. His mind was even worse. He beared down for what was about to come.

Keith bit his lip; “I think we should do it.”

Lance blinked slowly, He heard what keith said, but his brain didn’t process it. It didn’t make any sense. “You what?.”

“I think we should go out.” keith repeated, chuckling at lance’s reaction.

“But that doesn’t make any sense!.” Lance said in what was almost a shout. 

Keith was taken aback and more than that; confused. “I don’t get it?, I never did anything to make you think I  _ didn’t  _  want to date you, did I?.”

 

He shook his head adamantly “You did, you!.” Lance put his hand over his mouth and tried to gather some sense in his mind. “I.. I thought… I saw.  I saw you and Eli today.”

“And?.” Keith asked, holding his hand out as if Lance were going to physically hand him an answer.

“I thought you were get-”

“Getting back together with him??.” Keith finished Lance’s sentence with a laugh. His eyes were wide, “You were worried about that?. Sorry Lance but I’d never do that. I just wanted to tell him once and for all to fuck off.”

A wave of relief washed over him and Lance let himself slide down the wall until he was crouched on the ground. Lance put his hands on either side of his head. “I…. thought you were gonna …”

Lance saw Keith’s legs bend and they met face to face. Keith pulled Lance’s hood up and grabbed either side, “I like you Lance, a lot more than I ever liked Eli.” And with that statement Keith pulled Lance’s hood and they were kissing. Lance could’ve cried with relief if he weren’t so incandescently happy. 

When they broke away Lance couldn’t stop smiling.  They stood up and walked further down the alleyway. Keith shoved Lance playfully, Lance shoved him right back and this continued until Lance grabbed Keith’s hands. He pulled him in and their fingers caught each other. His hands were rough and a bit sweaty. Lance kissed one of his fingers and Keith’s nose wrinkled. He kissed his nose too. Throwing shame out the window.

“Kiss me properly you sappy jerk.” Keith said, walking backwards until his back met the nearby wall. 

Lance didn’t need telling twice and tilted his head, making their mouths meet. Their mouths were eager and though they’d kissed more times than they could count, this felt like their first kiss. Sparks were flying in Lance’s heart and he felt like he could explode.He moved his hands onto Keith’s waist pulling him closer. Keith’s arms were locked around Lance’s neck, holding him firmly. Their kiss was deep and lasting.

A cold wind blew over the side Lance’s face and their kiss broke. Lance didn’t move far from Keith, He could still feel the heat from his face.“I don’t even know what time it is.” He mumbled. “I know it’s late though…” Keith was looking at him but not replying. “I don’t wanna go home..”

“I don’t want you to either.” Keith replied, letting his head rest onto Lance’s chest.

Lance squeezed Keith. “I’d better go though, if my mom finds me gone, I’ll be dead.”

Keith chuckled, “She’s a piece of work isn’t she?.”

“Yup.” Lance replied “But it’s better to do what she wants. She’s vicious when you argue with her.”

“I can see that.” Keith said. He looked up from Lance’s chest and leaned up just a little and placed a fairy kiss on Lance’s mouth. “Let’s get you home then, Cinderella.” Keith took Lance’s hand in his and pulled him back towards his house. 

Since they hadn’t walked too far it wasn’t long before they were back in front of Lance’s house. They stopped still beside the gate. Neither of them wanted to go home right now. “I’d better say goodbye before I change my mind, huh?.”

“You’re right.” Keith said. 

“Goodnight.” Lance said. He made no attempt to move and just stared into Keith's dark eyes. He cleared his throat. “Night.”

Keith laughed, “Night.” he dropped Lance’s hand and stepped back., giving a wave as he did. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you.” Lance stood and watched as Keith disappeared down the street on his bike, the ends of his hair whipping in the wind. 

He turned to face his house and walked up the driveway distractedly. His mouth was a soppy smile and he giggled to himself. His chest was full of bubbles of happiness and he felt giddy with love. He snuck into his house, making as little noise as possible. What he didn’t know was that it didn’t matter how much noise he made. It was already too late.

He stepped through the back door with a smile still plastered across his face. A light snapped on and he jumped out of his skin. He whipped around. It was his mom. Her face was stony. She had one hand on her hip and the other on the light switch.

“What time do you call this?.” She asked

Lance jumped out of his skin.

“Uh-”

“It’ nearly two a.m where have you been!?.” It was clear she wasn’t going to wait for an answer as she walked towards him. “Come here and let me smell your breath!.”

“I haven’t been drink-”

She grabbed his face with one of her hands and wrenched it towards her. She sniffed. She shook her head. “Who were you with?.”

“I wasn’t-”

“You weren’t out until two am with  _ nobody!. _ She seethed. “It was that Keith kid wasn’t it?.Wasn’t it!? She tutted. “I knew he was trouble and now look at this, my golden boy out until god knows when doing god knows what.”

Lance let her go on for a while, if she vented a bit it would help his case.He thought of the possibilities and lying was his next course of action. There was no other way. He wasn’t going to have her mad at Keith literally half an hour after they’d gotten together.

As soon as he got an opportunity, he spoke “Will you listen, I was out for a night walk. I wanted to think. Keith had nothing to do with it.” he said it as calmly as possible, calmness always made it seem like you were telling the truth.

“He must have!” She said, to her the idea that  _ her son  _ did something wrong of his own accord was very unrealistic. “I know you wouldn’t do anything like this unless  _ that boy _ -”

“Amanda, If he says the boy had nothing to do with it, he didn’t.” His father stepped into the room in pyjamas and a robe.

“But... “ She sighed and shook her head, “Everyone in this house always gangs up on me!. I’m only trying to keep our son away from  _ scum!.”  _ She smacked her hand down onto the marble countertop and grimaced at the pain she caused herself. Then she stormed off in a huff.

“Mijo….” His dad said, looking at him with his head tilted. “You have to stop worrying your mama like this, I won’t defend you next time.” He got a cup from one of the cupboards and went to fill it with water. “And I know you lied to her.”

Lance panicked, “I was-”

“No, no, don’t worry.” he winked, his dark eyes shining with what Lance liked to think was pride “I was a young boy once too, hanging with friends your parents don’t like is part of that.” He patted Lance’s back. “Goodnight.”

Lance smiled fondly, “Night!, and dad?.”

“Si?” He looked over his shoulder.

“Gracias.”

He replied with only a smile and shut the door behind him as he left. Lance stayed put for a moment, feeling very lucky. He would say that he’d dodged a bullet but it was more like his dad had taken one for him.


	10. Yeah, he's my boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has quite a bit to go I think... i'm hoping to update more than once a month-ish. I've just been really hecking busy. Thanks soososososososos much to everyone who's still reading this- or just started!. I love you!
> 
> (also if you spot any grammar/ spelling mistakes or anything please let me know bc I don't spend as much time as I should editing lol)

It was coming up to five o’clock on a thursday afternoon. Lance was surrounded by the noise of people bustling about to get things done. He’d been there since one trying to find a present for his mom. He only had one day left before the big event, her dinner. He decided that was a pretty good reason to skip school. He’d convinced his mom that he was sick and knew she wouldn't be home until ten that night so the chance of getting caught was slim. He’d taken Keith with him, figuring that he might as well double it as a date. Keith hadn’t gone through any master plan to skip school, he just didn’t go.

“Uhhhh…” Lance sighed as they walked out of another shop. “I can’t find anything she’d like…”

“What did you get her last year.?” Keith asked.

“A candle I think, one of the ones that smell good.” Lance said. Scratching his chin. He remembered the candle now, it had smelled of cherries.

“Can’t you get her another one of those?.” Keith said, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walked. Lance was grateful he came but he knew he was  getting tired of it too.

“Uh, well… I think iI need to get her something a bit better than that this year.” Lance said, feeling unsure.

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed, “Why?.”

Lance chuckled awkwardly. “That’s the thing.” A few days ago his mom had announced that she was having a dinner for her birthday. Within a few seconds Allura asked if she could bring Shiro. But the problem was Lance had asked, with some momentary courage, if he could bring a date too. It was going to be some night he knew that. So he had to get her something good.

Looking even more concerned, Keith asked, “What is??.”

Lance took a breath and rattled out a paragraph  as fast as he could; “ _ My mom is having a dinner I said I’d bring a date and it was kinda dumb but I said it in the moment and I know she’ll be shocked but I want to _ -” Lance was stopped by Keith’s hand over his mouth.

“Don’t be silly of course I’ll come, If it is  _ me _ you want as your date…” he said, trailing off with a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah!, Of course I want you as my date, you’re my boyfriend.” Lance grabbed Keith’s hand. “Let’s go find a damn present.”

Lance felt a tug and looked behind him, Keith had pulled his hand free. He cleared his throat, “People were staring, I don’t wanna get you into trouble or anything..” He was avoiding eye contact.

Lance’s smile left his face. “Keith if you don’t want to hold hands in public that’s fine, but if you’re doing it to save my skin don’t bother. You’re my boyfriend and I don’t care who knows.”

Keith giggled and Lance’s heart clenched. The way his mouth curled and his laugh lilted was too cute to internalize.

“You’re so different to Eli, It’s crazy.” With that, Keith held out his hand. “Come on then,  _ boyfrend, _ let's hold hands.”

Lance took  it without a word and led Keith to another shop. Keith slowed as they passed a jewelery shop. 

“Didn’t you want  to go in there?.”

“It’s fine.” Lance said, “there’s a shop upstairs I want to look in.”

Lance had only hesitated to go in the shop because he wanted to hold onto Keith’s hand a little longer. After that little talk he felt he  _ had  _ to.

Lance took Keith to a home supply shop, what he hoped to find there he didn't know but it was worth a look. They ended up by the scented candles and they smell tested all of them. There was one called “fresh’ and it smelled of clean laundry. One was coloured orange and it’s citrusy scent was so pungent they had to leave the section. Most of the rest was Kitchen supplies, his mom cooked a bit but wasn’t  _ that  _ into it. They headed back to the jewelry shop. The prices on the window made Lance raise his eyebrows and Keith didn’t even bother to look.

“There’s a place that does those charm bracelet things?, them pandora ones?, would she like that?.” Keith Asked,looking in it’s direction.

“Yeah, worth a try.”

They headed over. The place was  _ decked the fuck out. _  Everything was shiny, even the marble tiled floors. There were glass cases everywhere with bracelets and charms glittering. There was a small chandelier in the centre of the shop. Lance looked at the prices. They weren’t great. But they were better. Lance leaned and looked at the bare bracelet. The prices ranged greatly with type, going from $30 to $1,500.

“So…. which one?.” Keith asked, his hands deep into his pockets and looking wary.

Lance looked over the bracelets. They came in gold, silver and leather straps.  “Well my mom did say once, about bracelets, leather is for strippers, gold is for their pimps and silver is for cinderella.”

Keith laughed, “What the fuck”

“I know.” Lance said nodding, “She was proud of that one.”

Keith shook his head and went to look at the charms. Lance perused the silver bracelets. The most expensive ones were $350,but there were ones for $79. It was a hell of a lot more than a scented candle that was for sure. 

“You need any help?.” 

Lance turned around. It was a short, smiling woman. She looked pristine and ready to help. Lance wasn't sure if she was that perky because she was naturally that way or because she wanted him to buy something. It was most likely the latter.

“I’m thinking of getting my mom one of the silver bracelets for her birthday.” he said, gesturing toward the glass case that held all the bracelets on little velvet platforms.

“Ooh, lovely, what a nice son!.”

Lance laughed politely, “I try.”

“Now, do you want a closer look at any of these?.”, the woman smiled, showing a row of perfectly straight and bright white teeth.

“Uhh… sure.” Lance said, turning to face the glass. There was lots of nice ones but he was attracted to one that looked woven. She took it out for him and he held it, inspecting it closely. He liked to think he looked like he knew what he was doing. “how much is this one?.”

“Ninety nine dollars.”

Lance tilted his head to the side in thought. He knew his mom would like it and it’s not like his pocket money didn’t allow for such a treat. “I’ll take it.”

“Oh, that’s great!, I’ll ring it up, would you like to take a look at the charms?.” it didn’t seem like he had a choice as she, with her hand on the small of his back, led him to the charms.

She left him there, it didn't take him long to choose one ,there was a nicely decorated heart shaped charm with  _ mom  _  written in the middle with swirly writing.he brought it back and the woman was delighted.

“Beautiful!.” she exclaimed, “what a good choice!.”

They went through the paying process and Lance put it in his backpack. He shuffled some things around and by the time he looked up- she was gone. She was at the other end of the shop, approaching Keith. Lance hurried over before she trapped him with her false smile. What he found was quite the opposite.

“I don’t think you’ll find anything to suit  _ you  _ here.” she commented, her smile completely gone and her arms were crossed.

Lance stopped in his tracks. Keith looked like he was at a lost for words. 

“I’m all done.” Lance said,putting on his own false smile. “Did you see anything you liked?.”

Keith shook his head, “Nope, nothing here suits  _ me. _ ”

“Uh.. are you with him?.” She asked.

“Yeah, he’s my boyfriend.” the woman’s mouth dropped open, then quickly closed. Lance held out his hand and Keith took it, “C’mon babe, let’s go. I’m not sure this place  _ suits me  _ anymore.”

Lance led him out of the shop, his heart was racing. They both burst into laughter as they got out of sight. “What a cow.” Lance said.

“Honestly though, what you did was kinda  hot.” Keith said, looking impressed.”

“You know how to make me blush don’t you?.”

“It’s not exactly hard.” Keith joked, swinging their hands a little.

“I bet I could make you blush.” Lance said, eyebrows raised in confidence.

“Is that an offer?.”

Lance’s face reddened at keith’s tone and his insinuation, he gulped, “maybe…”

“Leaving me in suspense huh?.” Keith chuckled then he changed the subject; “what did you get her in the end?.”

“I got a woven bracelet thing and a charm.” As they walked towards the exit, Lance noticed the sky was becoming dark and the moon was beginning to show.

“How Much did the charm cost?”

“Twenty five dollars.”

“can I give you the money for it?, I wanna get her something but I wouldn’t know where to start and we’ve been here all day”

“You really don’t have to do that,” he shrugged, “But I won’t stop you if you want to.”

“Cool, i’ll give you the money later, when is the dinner?.”

“Tomorrow at nine, it’s her birthday too. Sorry about the late notice I was scared to ask you… My dad will be there and Allua and Shiro.” Lance told him,”Can you make that?.”

“Mmhmm.” Keith replied, not looking in anyway perturbed that Lance had neglected to ask him until the day before, “What should I wear?.”

“Smart stuff, I’d say, Nice shirt and some good looking pant’s will do ya.”

They Walked out into the evening , hands still linked, and headed to Keith’s bike. Which wasn’t far away. Soo they were on the road and on the way to Lance’s. As always,they stopped short of the gate and lance hopped off the bike. He handed Keith his helmet and keith took off his own.

“You can’t escape without one a these.” Keith said , tapping a finger to his lips. Lance obliged happily and kissed him.

‘See ya soon!.” He called as he headed towards his gate. 

“Yep” Keith said before he left with a wave and the rev of his engine.

Lance hid the present in his wardrobe and was in his pyjamas within minutes. He had  netflix up and was browsing through idly. He’d finished project runway a few days ago and badly needed something else to hook him. 

There was a soft knock on his door. “Come in.” he called.

Allura stopped. She was wearing a long skirt and flowery top. “Hey.” She said softly. Walking into the room and sitting on Lance’s bed. 

“Hey.” Lance murmured back.

“So.” Allura began, not making eye contact with Lance.

“So?.”

She sighed. Lance shuffled up so his back rested against his headboard. Allura’s brow was furrowed and the was squeezing her knees with her hands. He sensed something was wrong with her.  “So… a few weeks ago you came home late and mom got mad about it?, remember that?.”

“Yes” Lance said, confused and nodding, “but how did you know about that?”

“Mom told me, she said something about you ‘ _ going down the wrong path _ ’ and ‘ _ you were being led astray’ _ , stuff like that. That’s not what I wanted to say though.” she paused. “This is sort of hard to say… I uh…. I  _ saw  _ you… y’know…  _ with _ Keith.”

Lance’s brow furrowed, “And?.”

She faced Lance and glowered, looking slightly annoyed. “I saw you  _ with him. _ ” She sighed, “kissing. I saw you kissing.”

“Oh.” Lance said. He swung his legs over the side of his bed so they were sat next to each other. He felt a little jolt of panic. He wasn’t at all worried she wouldn’t accept him as bi, she was bi herself,  it was all because it was Keith, with the added scare of being found out. “So… what did you want to say about it.”

“I do have a  _ few  _ questions..” she said, looking unsure.

“Go ahead.”

“Is Keith your boyfriend?.”

“Yes.” Lance said without skipping a beat.

Allura’s face was pulled into a smile  “That’s good… I think you suit eachother.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he grinned. He hugged her and she let out a small cry in surprise. “Thank you for saying that!.” he laughed. “I thought you might want me to end it with him!.”

Allura squeezed him back, “no!, I wanted you two to be at least friends from the start and I’m glad you’re so happy… but are you planning to tell mom?.” 

Both of their smiles retreated at that question and their hug ended. Lance had thought a lot about but he’d already decided to do it. “Yeah.” he said, “She’ll find it out eventually so there’s no use keeping it a secret.”

“True.” Allura said nodding kindly, with her hand on his, “She’d probably be  _ more  _ mad if you didn’t tell her.”

“I thought that too.”

Allura put her hand on Lance’s shoulder, “I’ll be there to support you the entire time.” She said with confidence.

“Thanks.”

“No problem little bro.” She stood up with a sigh, looked at him fondly, then left.

Lance pulled his feet up to his chest and stared. He felt sad all of a sudden, maybe it was anxiety before tomorrow. He liked Keith, a hell of a lot, and he didn’t intend to hide it like Eli had. He wouldn’t give a second to feel ashamed of either himself or keith. But he was still scared. What would she say when he turned up with keith on his arm?. What would she do once he made it clear  _ why  _ he was there?. He rested his head on the wall beside him. There really was no telling how she’d react. He knew she’d be disappointed. She might even be angry. He put his hand on his chest and felt the rate of his pulse. He didn’t want her to disapprove of him, or hate him. But this was something he  _ had  _ to do.

He knew he wasn’t going to sleep well that night.

 


	11. A Birthday To Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so.... I know it's been a long damn time but I've been through the works. I learned I have cancer again and I've been in and out of hospital and working on other stuff just a whole mess of things really. I'm actually in hospital right now.
> 
> Anyway I want you guys to know I won't give up on this story and i'll finish it no matter what but since i'm so sick it might take longer. I hope you understand.
> 
> Okay since i started writing this Shiro has been confirmed gay, I know it's spoilers but I will write out the shallura in this story. they wont be together by the end but I wont tell you how!.
> 
> [Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/tomenholbrook)

He was right. Lance spent that night  tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling and convincing himself he wasn't worried. His eyes hurt as morning light streamed in through his slightly parted curtains. He shoved his face into his pillow and wished for a sleep. He groaned and threw off his blanket, he wasn’t going back to sleep. It was the morning of his mother's birthday. He checked his phone, it was eleven. When he looked into the mirror he saw the bags under his eyes. He stuck his tongue out at himself then padded into the hallway and wandered downstairs. He could smell bacon, eggs and sausage. His mouth watered. Allura was cooking, her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she was wearing an apron covered in various liquids and smears. She was swearing over a pan of bacon.

“Not going well?.” 

Allura shot him a glare, “It’s going  _ fine _ .” She spat. Just as she said that the smell of burning food filled the air. She whipped around; “The bacon!!.”

She Grabbed the pan and placed it onto the table. The bacon was was nicely cooked on the front. Allura turned one over and it showed the other side had blackened a bit  _ too  _ much. But it wasn’t inedible. She shrugged and Lance laughed. She put the bacon onto the plate with all the other things she’d prepared. He watched as she poured, with careful precision, orange juice into a glass.

“What no fresh-squeezed?” he joked.

Allura looked grim. She pointed over to the sink. Lance looked. Inside was juicer covered in orange bits and dribbles of juice. 

“What happened?.” Lance asked.

“... let’s just say juicing is not as easy as it seems.” she picked up the tray and walked out before Lance had a chance to ask any more questions.

“Let me get the present I got her!.” Lance said before rushing past Allura. He’d kept the glittering box on the top of his wardrobe since the day he got it, he couldn’t wait to give it to her. He got to his room quickly and reached up, patting the top of the wardrobe until he felt the rough texture of glitter. He grabbed the box and hurried over to meet Allura. She was stood outside the door tapping her foot.

“Knock for me.”

Lance did as he was told and a voice came from the other side, “Come in!.” Lance opened the door with a grin on his face. His mom and dad were sat in bed. As they entered they sung happy birthday. His mother’s face lit up at the sight of her kids.

As they finished up she looked tearful, “Look at my two perfect babies!.” She exclaimed, “come here!.”

She pulled them into hugs and kisses and Lance let her have one before he pulled away, it was her birthday after all. He wiped his cheek after getting free and then promptly proffered his gift to her. Her eyes sparkled brighter than the packaging. She took two of her manicured red nails to the side of the lid and prised it off. She gasped when she saw the silver bracelet inside. 

“Oh Lance!, you didn’t have to!.” she wrestled him into another hug and squeezed him tightly. “My little angel boy!!.”

“Keith helped me choose!.” He added with a proud smile, “he-”

“That’s lovely dear, what a nice present!, a pandora bracelet from my golden boy.” he held it fondly then nagged at his dad to help her put it on. He was smiling too, not bothered by it, and slipped it on her wrist with ease. She admired it , twisting her hand and watching it sparkle.

Allura butted in, her hands on her hips, “Mum, if you don't eat your food it’ll go cold.”

“Oh sorry!, I forgot my golden girl made me a fabulous meal!.” She picked up the fork and and started to eat. She cut the food into tiny pieces with careful precision and ate it in neat bites. “I can just tell this is going to be the best birthday ever!.”

“Don’t forget I’m getting you that dress you want..” Allura added, her eyes glued to the bracelet hanging nicely on their mom’s wrist.

She finished chewing before she spoke, “Yes, honey I remember!, that’s going to be absolutely wonderful!.”

“And  _ I’m _ buying your dinner and the new-” his dad began.

“Oh will you two hush!, I value your gifts just as much as Lance’s I was only surprised that he got me something.” she laughed at them and continued eating.

The breakfast went fine and she ushered her kids away because she was taking the whole day to relax and get ready for the dinner. She would be leaving for the restaurant in ten hours but she assured them she could take that long to get ready if she added some indulgence. Lance didn’t doubt her. She’d been known to take two hours just to pick up bread. 

Lance took this as his opportunity to duck out. He was heading to Keith’s house for the rest of the day. Keith was arguably more nervous than himself about the dinner. He’d been texting Lance non-stop about what to wear and how to act and so on. Lance had offered to come over in the end because he’d never seen Keith act so nervous about something. Keith had jumped on that offer straight away. 

He stood at the end of the next street and waited for Keith. He was holding his suit over his arm and had a bag of various products on his back. He was ready. He heard Keith before he saw him. The noise of the bike around the corner made the edge of his mouth perk up and he couldn’t help it. He felt silly, but happy in the silliness.

Keith slowed to a stop by his feet and held out the helmet wordlessly. Lance would’ve said something about his silence if it were any other day but because it was today he simply put the helmet on, held onto Keith and they were on their way. 

It didn't occur to Lance that this was the first time he was going to Keith’s house…  _ ever.  _ There had been so much on his mind that he just…  _ hadn’t  _  thought of it. All of a sudden, as the bike slowed, Lance realised and his heart flipped. They got off the bike and took their helmets off. Keith went straight for a gate and Lance caught sight of Keith’s house. It was small. Well, to  _ him  _ it was small. The garden would barely make up his garage. He felt a humbling wave overcome him. The House looked... Nice. It was painted a light yellow but was covered in what Lance guessed to be some type of mould or mildew. A few of the roof's tilles had come loose and everything just looked, well, used.

“Uhh, Keith?.” Lance said. Something else and infinitely more important had dawned on him.

Keith looked over his shoulder, “Yeah?.”

“Is your family home?.” He asked.

“No, they’re visiting my aunt for a few Days” Keith replied with what Lance thought was a smirk.

“Oh… okay.” Lance breathed a sigh of relief. That was, until he realised that meant they were alone together in a house…. He wasn’t sure which made him more nervous. Meeting Keith’s family or being alone with him in his bedroom with absolutely no supervision.

Keith put his bike on a piece on concrete beside the door and pulled a key from his pocket. He opened the door and left it wide for Lance. He gulped before he stepped inside. The scent hit him right off the bat. It was a strong lavender smell. The house was cosy, the decorations weren’t extravagant but they were homely. 

“Come on.” Keith said, going up the stairs. “My room is up here.”

Lance followed.  _ His room.  _ Once they were up the stairs Lance could immediately tell which door was Keith’s. It was the one covered with band names stickers and warning signs.

Keith caught him staring, “Uhh fuck, ignore the stickers and signs I just haven’t taken them down yet.”

Lance let a laugh slip, more at the expression on Keith’s face than the state of the door. “Don’t worry,” He added, “mine looked similar.” 

After that small interaction they both felt more at ease.

The inside, not surprisingly, screamed Keith. Posters, a lot of them partly ripped, covered the walls and black clothes were piled on the bed and floor. On his desk were various types of eyeliner and a mirror with smudges all over. His bed wasn’t made, the blanket was hanging off the side and the pillows were askew. Keith didn’t make any move to clear up the mess. He Picked up a shirt that was lying on the bed and showed it to Lance. It was black and had red buttons.

“Is this okay?.” He asked, looking unsure. “I have another-”

“No that’s perfect!.” Lance said, “Suits your style and it’s fancy. What pants are you wearing?.”

Keith looked grim. “I only have skinny jeans…”

Lance chuckled at the look on his face, “that’s fine!, I think you’ll look great.” he stepped over a small pile of clothes and gave Keith a kiss on his forehead, “you didn’t even need my help, you always look great.”

Keith sat down onto his bed and Lance joined him. “I did need your help, I’d be thinking about this all day if you didn’t come, huhh…” He leaned back onto his bed and looked up at Lance, genuine concern in his eyes; “Do you think your mom’s gonna hit me?.”

Lance laughed, “hmmm.” he put his hand on his chin, “Would she?”

“I’d say she’s got a strong right hook.” Keith mused, punching the air to demonstrate, “then, after she punched me she'd say, ‘of course you fell back, you’re weak like your father’ and she'd laugh.”

Lance laughed along with him,the imagery was great and he couldn't deny that it was a possibility. “she  _ might.” _

“It’d be the worst black eye  _ ever. _ ” He turned to Lance, “and I’ve had a few fights, I’ll tell you that for nothing.”

“ _ That  _ doesn’t surprise me _ ”  _ Lance said, laying down next to him, “did you usually win those fights?.”

Keith raised his eyebrows, “what do you think?.”

“I think you won…  _ most  _ of them.”

Keith flexed his arm, his bicep bulging, and wiggled his eyebrows, “Most??.”

Lance considered for a moment; “most.”

“Pfft.” Keith shook his head while wearing a cocky smile “I won them all.”

“I’m sure you did.” Keith put on what Lance would describe as a pout, despite that Lance couldn't help but smile. He moved closer to keith, so their faces were only inches apart. “I was joking-”

He was interrupted by Keith grabbing him and pulling him over and pinning him down, “Believe me now?.” Keith asked.

Instead of answering Keith’s question, Lance leaned up and kissed him. Keith didn’t take long before he kissed back. It wasn’t long before Lance’s hands were up Keith’s shirt, gripping his back. Keith nipped at lance’s bottom lip, sending a shiver up his spine. His mind felt a bit fuzzy. This wasn’t something that was out of place when they kissed. He’d lose himself into it, only focusing on Keith. There was something  _ charged  _ about it right then that made Lance more excited than usual.

He could tell Keith was eager too, it was the way he was kissing today. He felt more sloppy, rushed, like he wasn’t thinking, like he was letting go. But then he moaned, loudly. Lance pulled back. It surprised him. 

“Uh.. uh.” he sat up, his mind was going 90 miles an hour “we should stop before we-”

“Sorry.” Keith said, his face looking grim, “I shouldn’t have made that noise,”

“No.” Lance said. “I… it made me.” He cleared his throat. “It made me… a bit  _ too  _ excited.”

“Oh.” Keith glanced down. “...Are you?”

“N-no!.” Lance covered his face with his hands. His voice became a whisper; “It just...  _ turned me on. _ ”

Keith moved Lance’s hands away from his face and held them “Lance. You don’t have to be embarrassed you know?, It’s just me.”

“Im just….” he sighed, “I’m a v-virgin  _ and all this stuff makes me nervous _ ”. He said the last part like it was one word because he feared if he didn’t he’d never get it out.

“I kinda guessed that…” Keith admitted, “It doesn't make any difference to me. I won’t force you to do anything and I’m not going to mock you for being new at it.”

It was in that moment, while looking into Keith’s deep blue eyes that Lance realised he was going to lose his virginity with Keith. He didn’t know where or when, but he knew it would be with Keith and what’s more - he wanted it to be.

“Thanks.” Lance murmured, “...anyway let’s watch a movie and try and forget all this awkward shit.”

They sat close to each other, holding hands passing the time watching bad comedy movies and mocking them relentlessly. There was no more kissing. The energy in the room wasn't right for it.  When seven rolled around they started to get ready. They changed in different rooms.

Lance was in a spare room. It was practically empty apart from a bed and a chest of drawers. He thought of the spare room in his house. It looked like a four star hotel standard room. He often forgot that Keith had a lot less than him. He brushed off the thoughts, Keith didn’t care about it so he shouldn’t either.

Lance wore black chinos, a white t shirt and a dark grey blazer. He’d also brought his shiniest, fancy shoes his mom had bought them for him on christmas last year. This was to be their first outing. He piled all his clothes into the bag he’d brought and went back to Keith’s room. He knocked once and called out, “You done?.”

“...yeah.” He didn’t sound sure, but Lance went in. He looked sharp. He’d cleaned his face of any make up, combed his hair and nothing he was wearing had a rip in it. “Does this look okay?.”

“You look great!.” Lance said, smiling fondly.

“You look better!.” Keith said, looking him up and down, with a raised eyebrow and tilted smirk.

“Shut up dude.” Lance threw back, trying to mask the fact that he felt like melted chocolate. “Let’s go before we end up spending all night in the hall complimenting each-other”.

Keith snickered, but led the way outside. Riding Keith’s motorbike was second nature to Lance at this point, he put his helmet and got on without a hesitation. Keith didn’t drive as fast as usual, Lance didn’t ask but he knew it was because keith didn’t want to mess up their outfits which made him smile uncontrollably. As they got closer to the restaurant Lance’s stomach shifted gears. He’d felt awkward but comfortable hanging with Keith but now dread was begging to well up in his stomach. 

They got to the restaurant a great deal faster than Lance wanted. He stood beside the machine, clutching his helmet in his hands. Keith was straightening Lance’s tie, biting his lip in concentration.

“Do we have to go in?.” Lance breathed.

Keith lew air from his nose and put his hands on his hips as if to saw ‘ _ really?’. _

“I know.” Lance said, the taste of a sigh on his lips. “We do.”

Keith raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Come on then, let's go before you get cold feet…” he let out a chuckle, “again.” Keith put his arm out for Lance to grab, he did. 

Lance’s heart rate was high as he and Keith entered the restaurant. It was high class. The wood floor was so shiny Lance could use it to check his appearance. The tables were covered in pristine ivory table cloths which were dotted with neatly folded scarlet napkins. The cutlery and spotless plates glimmered. The aromas were nothing less than divine.  One magnificent chandelier was the centre focus of the room. The rest of the room was lit with smaller chandeliers and candles. All this only served to distract him for mere moments.

Lance felt Keith tug at his sleeve, he looked pale despite how willing he’d been only moments ago. “It’s not too late Lance, I could leave now if you want.”

Lance shook his head and took a deep breath. It did nothing to calm his heart. “I’ll have to tell her sooner or later. Come on.” he led the way with as much faux confidence as he could muster. Surely she wouldn’t be  _ that  _ upset. 

He caught sight of the table his family were sat at. His mother had a red lipped smile, baring teeth that were overly whitened and perfectly straight. His father had a hand on his mom’s shoulder and he was talking too. Allura and Shiro looked to be listening to whatever story was being told. They all looked so perfect, dressed in their finest and laughing contentedly.

“Lance-”

Lance took Keith’s hand in his and charged forward. “Hi everyone, sorry we’re late.” 

He didn’t look at first, he concentrated on getting Keith into his seat and then turned to see all the reactions. Shiro looked surprised. Allura looked proud. His dad looked confused and his mother…. She was livid. Her jaw was locked in an open ‘O’ of shock and her skin was reddening. Lance sat down. His legs felt weak.

“ _ Lance.”  _ she seethed, “ _ What  _ is  _ he  _ doing _ here? _ .”

“You said to bring someone along.” Lance replied calmly, “Allura brought her boyfriend, so why couldn’t I bring mine?.”

“ **_YOUR WHAT?._ ** ”  she spat through her teeth, spittle formed at the edge of her mouth.

In that moment of shock his mother completely forgot herself. Her importance of keeping up appearances left her. Her air of grace and control was gone. Her layers of imitated personality disappeared and all that was left at this moment, was anger.

She realised herself and lowered her voice. “Lance Charles McClain you will come and talk with me outside  _ this instant.”.  _ Though her voice had lowered her face betrayed her. She was crazed.

“Amanda please-” his Dad began, glancing around at the onlookers.

“No.” She stood up and left in a way that could only be described as ‘storming off.’

Lance sighed gently. He hadn’t meant for this type of a reaction. He pushed out his chair and stood up.  He felt a hand on his arm as he walked and looked behind him.

“Lance, mijo, why today?.” His eyes looked both understanding and pained, “I don’t mind your boy but, why today?.”

Lance wished he hadn’t stopped to hear his dad speak. He  _ knew  _  his mom was going to be upset, even if she was wrong it was still going to hurt her. He felt guilt well up in his stomach. He wasn’t even sure if the decision to do it had been conscious or not. Had he done it out of spite?... it was more than likely he had. 

He began walking again and his father’s hand slipped from his shoulder. He lost most of his willingness to argue on the journey outside. It was only a matter of moments but that’s all it took.

Lance looked around and spotter her. She was sitting on a stone bench in a small garden that was used in the summertime. The air was cold and he saw his mom shiver. Her arms were crossed and she was facing away. She noticed Lance and wiped her face. She’d been crying. He sat across from her and put his hands on the stone table that separated them.

“You know It’s not that he’s a boy, you know that.” She said in a voice that was laboured with the effort of not crying. “It’s that he’s  _ him. _ ”

Lance nodded. “I didn’t want to like him either,” he began truthfully, “I wanted to hate him like you did,  _ because  _ you did. I wanted to stay far away from him, because you wanted me to.” Lance paused there and caught his mother's eyes. For once she wasn’t screaming… she seemed to be actually listening, so he continued. “I avoided him at the start but… but things changed. We started talking and that led to hanging out and I got to know him. I liked what I got to know and now I love it... “ despite the situation a very small smile formed with the thought. “I love him.”

She shook her head, her dangling earrings swung back and forth angrily. “Anyone. You could’ve chosen  _ anyone _ and you chose  _ him. _ ”

He hated the way she said ‘him’. His blood was beginning to boil.He curled his fingers into his palm and suppressed a glare. He gone out there feeling sorry for her, but that was fading fast.

“Just think there’s hundreds of boys and  _ girls  _ at your school. You know how much I hate that boy and you chose him … ugh!.” She had said she didn’t mind that Keith was a boy, but her tone suggested otherwise. she ran her fingers through her hair, tugging as she did so. “I just can’t believe you did this to me, and telling me on my birthday!, That’s a whole different level, Lance.”

Lance opened his mouth and closed it a few times. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you today, but I love Keith and nothing’s going to change that.”

Her lips were pursed. Silently, she wiped her face, brushed her hair back into place and stood up. “Fine. but I don’t want him at our house and you’re not allowed to take him to family events. You can take him and go now.” with that she turned and headed back towards the restaurant.

Lance was shocked for a second. He got up and rushed after her. “But, mom, you can’t-”

“I can!. It’s my birthday.” She said snapping before sighing deeply and composing herself. “Get him and  _ go. _ ”

She led the way back inside. She didn’t go back to the table, she went towards the bathroom. Lance saw her take out a little silver case which he knew held her powder foundation. She was going to mask the fact she’d been crying. He went to the table, his guts were twisting up and he saw them all looking at him as he approached. He didn’t know what to feel. Or more pertinently what to say.

“Where’s your mama?.” His dad asked as soon as he was in earshot.

“Bathroom.” He said, not looking at his face. “Keith, let’s go.”

There was a simultaneous “What!?” from everyone at the table. Mouths were dropping open and eyes were wide. Apart from that one word no-one seemed to have anything to say.

There was no way Lance was going to into detail but he was angry. It felt like he was bursting at the seams. He opened his mouth and the words came out harshly. “Mom told me he wasn’t allowed to be here, so we’re leaving.”

“No, Lance, you can  _ both  _ stay-” Allura said, her voice angry.

“We’re going.” There was no discussion to be had. No compromise. They were leaving.  He grabbed his jacket and put it on. Keith was doing the same but with less bite to his actions. Lance could feel venom in his every movement.

He stormed out of the restaurant with a worried Keith in hot pursuit. As soon as they were out of the doors he sighed.

“Can you take me home?.” his voice wobbled He was ready to cry, he could feel it in his eyes and on his lips.

“Lance…” Keith voice was pained. Lance could tell he wanted to say something to him but the words weren’t there.

“I ruined it.” Lance felt a tear escape and he rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. He could feel a flood coming. 

Keith shook his head, “no Lance, babe, you didn’t ruin a thing!, we’re still together aren’t we?” Lance nodded. He wasn’t able to form words. Keith smiled gently. “Your mom was never gonna accept me anyway… let’s go have dinner somewhere else.”

Keith took Lance’s hand and led him to the bike. Lance was having trouble holding back tears. He kept them in until they were on the road. He let his helmet rest on Keith’s back and had a little cry. With all the noise of the road and the engine, no-one could hear him.


End file.
